coarsen

American

[kawr-suhn, kohr-] / ˈkɔr sən, ˈkoʊr- /

verb (used with or without object)

to make or become coarse.

coarsen British

/ ˈkɔːsən /

verb

to make or become coarse

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of coarsen

First recorded in 1795–1805; coarse + -en ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"If we are interested in the distribution of small-scale objects, we have to work against this natural tendency for things to coarsen," Bellon explains.

From Science Daily • Sep. 20, 2023

It’s not just that they coarsen the culture, though that’s bad enough.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 21, 2021

It’s a progressive degeneration from pop culture to further dumb down and coarsen our popular taste.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 26, 2019

But it also adds new incidents, characters and depth, with a contemporary wit that doesn’t coarsen the story — or not much, anyway.

From Washington Post • Dec. 13, 2017

‘Motherogod! She’s not but four. It’s liable to scare her. And besides, permanents tend to coarsen the hair.’

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023