heighten

[hahyt-n]

See more synonyms for heighten on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)

to increase the height of; make higher.
to increase the degree or amount of; augment: Cézanne's death heightened the value of his paintings.
to strengthen, deepen, or intensify: to heighten the plot of a story; to heighten one's awareness or appreciation; to heighten one's suffering.

to bring out the important features of, as in a drawing: to heighten a picture with Chinese white.

verb (used without object)

to become higher.
to increase: The tension heightened as the enemy forces advanced.
to brighten or become more intense.

Origin of heighten

First recorded in 1515–25; height + -en¹

Related formsheight·en·er, nounun·height·ened, adjective

Synonym study

1. See elevate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for heightened

fierce, intensive, intense, profound, concentrated, confused, labored, complicated, rough, grave, raised, towering, lifted, uplifted, abstruse, complex, formidable, grievous, hard, harsh

Examples from the Web for heightened

Contemporary Examples of heightened

For Kirke it was being paid to pretend to play the oboe that heightened her affair with classical music.
‘Mozart in the Jungle’: Inside Amazon’s Brave New World of Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music
Kevin Fallon
December 23, 2014
She stands, dressed in a tutu, on one pointed foot in a heightened fifth position.
Revealing The Unseen Picasso
Justin Jones
November 3, 2014
It is an extreme, heightened set-up, I say: the whole hostage-taking, life-imperiled prolog.
Sex, Blood, and Screaming: Blackout’s Dark Frights
Tim Teeman
October 7, 2014
The Mossad high command must surely be convening emergency meetings in an atmosphere of tension and heightened alertness.
Mossad’s Greatest Female Assassin: An Excerpt From ‘Sylvia Rafael’
Ram Oren,   Moti Kfir
September 20, 2014
The memo, citing a heightened security threat, said that the attacks were scheduled for July 25, 2014.
Obama’s ‘Yemen Model’ for the War on ISIS Is a Wreck
Shuaib Almosawa
September 12, 2014

Historical Examples of heightened

The eyes, either closed in sleep or appearing to be, heightened the effect.
Quaint Courtships
Various
Your reputation, both for head and heart, as I hinted before, will be heightened.
Clarissa, Volume 3 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
And then our enchantment is heightened by a prevailing duplication.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845
Various
The cruel sensations of Imogen were not aggravated by despair, but heightened by hope.
Imogen
William Godwin
With heightened colour she met Tony's grave, searching eyes.
Jan and Her Job
L. Allen Harker

British Dictionary definitions for heightened

heighten

verb

to make or become high or higher
to make or become more extreme or intense

Derived Formsheightened, adjectiveheightener, noun

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

Word Origin and History for heightened

heighten

mid-15c., heightenen "to exalt, to honor or raise to high position," from height + -en (1). Related: Heightened; heightening.