enrich
Americanverb (used with object)
-
enriches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
enriched,
past participle, past
-
enriching
present participle
-
to supply with riches, wealth, abundant or valuable possessions, etc..
Commerce enriches a nation.
-
to supply with abundance of anything desirable.
to enrich the mind with knowledge.
-
to add greater value or significance to.
Art enriches life.
-
to adorn or decorate.
a picture frame enriched with gold.
-
to make finer in quality, as by supplying desirable elements or ingredients.
to enrich soil.
-
Physics. to increase the proportion of a valuable mineral or isotope in (a substance or material).
The fuel was enriched with uranium 235 for the nuclear reactor.
-
Nutrition.
-
to restore to (a food) a nutrient that has been lost during an early stage of processing.
to enrich flour with thiamine, iron, niacin, and riboflavin.
-
to add vitamins and minerals to (food) to enhance its nutritive value.
-
verb
-
to increase the wealth of
-
to endow with fine or desirable qualities
to enrich one's experience by travelling
-
to make more beautiful; adorn; decorate
a robe enriched with jewels
-
to improve in quality, colour, flavour, etc
-
to increase the food value of by adding nutrients
to enrich dog biscuits with calcium
-
to make (soil) more productive, esp by adding fertilizer
-
physics to increase the concentration or abundance of one component or isotope in (a solution or mixture); concentrate
to enrich a solution by evaporation
enrich a nuclear fuel
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
enrichernoun
-
enrichmentnoun
-
enrichedadjective
-
self-enrichingadjective
-
unenrichingadjective
-
enrichinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
enrichsimple
-
enrichessimple
-
have enrichedperfect
-
has enrichedperfect
-
am enrichingprogressive
-
are enrichingprogressive
-
is enrichingprogressive
-
have been enrichingperfect progressive
-
has been enrichingperfect progressive
Past
-
enrichedsimple
-
had enrichedperfect
-
was enrichingprogressive
-
were enrichingprogressive
-
had been enrichingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of enrich
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English enrichen, from Old French enrichir; equivalent to en- 1 + rich
Explanation
To enrich something is to make it richer, or to improve the quality of it. You play the lottery because it might enrich your bank account; you play ping-pong to enrich your quality of life. Regardless of the sense it is used in, the key to enrich is the word rich (you can almost think of it as the verb form of the adjective). So to enrich something is to make it rich, richer, or just plain better. Enrich always needs an object: You can’t visit a wax museum just to enrich, but you can go to enrich your life. Verbs that enrich include improve, enhance, cultivate, better, and develop.
Vocabulary lists containing enrich
Lyndon B. Johnson on "The Great Society" (1964)
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
List 1
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Obama's State of the Union Address, 2014
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
Playwrights from Shakespeare to Sondheim to Manuel-Miranda, meanwhile, write around human emotion and almost weaponize relatability to enrich the audience’s theater experience.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
The snails, which measure no bigger than a third of an inch or 8mm in size, are important as they eat vegetation and enrich the soil.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The United States signed a nuclear agreement with the kingdom's neighbor the United Arab Emirates in 2009, although the country does not enrich its own uranium.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Centrifuges are machines that are used to spin uranium gas, separating isotopes to enrich the material for civilian nuclear energy or potential weapons production.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Scavengers could come and eat the dead animals, and what was left of their bodies would decompose and enrich the soil.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
"This kind of activity enriches them a great deal, not only visually for the audience but for them as well," he said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 6, 2026
In nonfiction, a soulful look at how we interact with the natural world leads to an equally soulful look at why the American West’s human diversity enriches us all.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2026
"We are determined to ensure technology enriches children's lives, not harms them - and to give every child the childhood they deserve," she said.
From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2026
This process enriches the space between stars with the raw materials needed to form future stars, planets, and eventually life.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 12, 2026
Appreciating art is a gradual, never-ending endeavor, which is why art from all eras still engages and enriches us.
From "The Annotated Mona Lisa" by Carol Strickland and John Boswell
Newly enriched Americans are bound to spend some of their windfall on new cars, yachts, houses and the like.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
Silicon Valley enriched itself with promises that the cyber revolution would mean more freedom and democracy by enabling the flow of information and communication.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
Centrifuges are needed to produce enriched uranium, which can be used to make reactor fuel for civilian use but also for nuclear weapons if enriched to around 90% purity or higher.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
Iran denies ever seeking nuclear weapons but has produced about 1,000 pounds of 60% enriched uranium, near weapons-grade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
We are not made up, as we had always supposed, of successively enriched packets of our own parts.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
The main process enriching these magmas with gold appears to be high-degree, multi-stage melting of a water-rich and oxidized mantle.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
If the case drags past September, Paramount may be forced to pay a large ticking fee, enriching hedge funds, not creatives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
In other words, he seems to think that if the facility is enriching uranium at all, it is by definition military—i.e., its purpose is to build nuclear weapons.
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026
“International students and scholars bring unique perspectives to our classrooms and research teams, enriching the learning environment and helping us find more creative and effective solutions to the world’s problems,” said Stanford spokesperson Angie Davis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
“Won’t it be enriching to absorb the work of such masters, and there are so many there to be seen.”
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
