enrich
Americanverb (used with object)
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to supply with riches, wealth, abundant or valuable possessions, etc..
Commerce enriches a nation.
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to supply with abundance of anything desirable.
to enrich the mind with knowledge.
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to add greater value or significance to.
Art enriches life.
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to adorn or decorate.
a picture frame enriched with gold.
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to make finer in quality, as by supplying desirable elements or ingredients.
to enrich soil.
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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.
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Nutrition.
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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.
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to add vitamins and minerals to (food) to enhance its nutritive value.
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verb
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to increase the wealth of
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to endow with fine or desirable qualities
to enrich one's experience by travelling
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to make more beautiful; adorn; decorate
a robe enriched with jewels
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to improve in quality, colour, flavour, etc
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to increase the food value of by adding nutrients
to enrich dog biscuits with calcium
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to make (soil) more productive, esp by adding fertilizer
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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
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enrichernoun
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enrichmentnoun
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enrichedadjective
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self-enrichingadjective
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unenrichingadjective
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enrichinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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enrichsimple
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enrichessimple
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have enrichedperfect
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has enrichedperfect
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am enrichingprogressive
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are enrichingprogressive
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is enrichingprogressive
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have been enrichingperfect progressive
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has been enrichingperfect progressive
Past
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enrichedsimple
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had enrichedperfect
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was enrichingprogressive
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were enrichingprogressive
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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)
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List 1
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Obama's State of the Union Address, 2014
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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:
Earlier US media reports suggested the deal could allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium in the future - which can be used as fuel for power plants, but also potentially to make nuclear bombs.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Saudi Arabia rejected the so-called “gold standard,” a commitment never to enrich uranium at home or reprocess the spent fuel from a reactor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 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
Rather than simply reusing existing wax, queen cell builders actively collect, modify, and enrich materials used in royal chambers.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
Mom and Dad said that they were looking to enrich my life.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
He welcomes the diversity in ages and backgrounds, saying it "just enriches the crew in general."
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
We are compelled to speculate, which enriches the drama.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
Actually, no — it’s just the latest in a long line of inventions, one that enriches workers and improves daily life.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 1, 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
Pedagogically Sound: Including multiple perspectives and views on material not only enriches the curriculum content, but also provides radically different frameworks and paradigms to students on content.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
By common understanding, uranium must be enriched to a level of 20 percent purity to be deemed “highly enriched” and 90 percent to be “weapons-grade.”
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 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
"No matter how you slice it, TOI-5882 is so enriched in lithium it shows up as being at least in the 97th percentile."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
There are a few other critical points: The extent of monitoring, what happens to the nuclear facilities, and what happens to that highly enriched uranium.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Everything we sold was enriched with antioxidants or enhanced with natural super-fruit extracts or formulated for health and beauty.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
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
Those explosions scattered newly created heavy elements throughout the cluster, enriching the gas that later gave birth to another generation of stars.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
Results are achieved in a few service hours, allowing more time for varied enriching experiences and family life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Edinburgh at that time was a center of intellectual vigor, and Hutton luxuriated in its enriching possibilities.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
