lengthen
Americanverb (used with object)
-
lengthens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
lengthened,
past participle, past
-
lengthening
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
lengthens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
lengthened,
past participle, past
-
lengthening
present participle
verb
Synonym Usage
Lengthen, extend, stretch, prolong, protract agree in the idea of making longer. To lengthen is to make longer, either in a material or an immaterial sense: to lengthen a dress. To extend is to lengthen beyond some original point or so as to reach a certain point: to extend a railway line by a hundred miles. To stretch is primarily to lengthen by drawing or tension: to stretch a rubber band. Both prolong and protract mean especially to lengthen in time, and therefore apply to intangibles. To prolong is to continue beyond the desired, estimated, or allotted time: to prolong an interview. To protract is to draw out to undue length or to be slow in coming to a conclusion: to protract a discussion.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
lengthensimple
-
lengthenssimple
-
have lengthenedperfect
-
has lengthenedperfect
-
am lengtheningprogressive
-
are lengtheningprogressive
-
is lengtheningprogressive
-
have been lengtheningperfect progressive
-
has been lengtheningperfect progressive
Past
-
lengthenedsimple
-
had lengthenedperfect
-
was lengtheningprogressive
-
were lengtheningprogressive
-
had been lengtheningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of lengthen
Explanation
To lengthen is to make something longer, either physically or in time. During the spring and early summer, the days lengthen, as sundown comes later and later. Mascara lengthens your eyelashes, and letting out your hem lengthens your jeans. As time goes by, your years of experience lengthen, and if you don't cut your hair or trim your beard, those lengthen as well. Lengthen dates from the 14th century — earlier, the verb was length, from a Germanic root that's also the basis of "long."
Vocabulary lists containing lengthen
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:
Funding shortfalls for research and personal circumstances can also often lengthen the study period.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Companies have wide discretion to shorten or lengthen their fixed assets’ useful lives, which changes their yearly depreciation numbers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
Eccentric exercise focuses on the phase when muscles lengthen rather than shorten.
From Science Daily ● May 1, 2026
Airport security lines could lengthen as over 11% of TSA officers previously called out when unpaid, with some airports reaching 50%.
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
Serving men hurried to lengthen the table on the dais, fetching trestles and chairs.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
The enzyme telomerase lengthens telomeres, helping protect chromosomes and preventing cells from dying.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 1, 2026
Catalysts for a recovery that lengthens into the back half of the year, however, will be complicated by the ongoing rise in oil and other energy prices, and higher inflation coupled with slower-than-expected economic growth.
From Barron's ● Apr. 1, 2026
Neser lengthens Australia's batting at number eight and has the experience of the Gabba being his home ground, but only Warne and McGrath have more wickets than Lyon in Brisbane.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2025
Each new delay in shipping the aircraft lengthens the time it will take Boeing to recoup its investments in the long-delayed 777X program.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025
The stem lengthens until the tip hits the platform, like a kite's tail.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
In the left map above, the darkest red areas mark the places where the melt season lengthened fastest during that decade.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
We lengthened the school year, brought in hundreds of tutors, replaced 95% of principals and nearly half the teachers while retraining the rest, and embedded data-driven instruction and high expectations into daily practice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
AI has the ability to accelerate analysis and speed up work — but paradoxically, it’s lengthened the process of finding the right person for an open role in many cases.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
But Schulte told the BBC's World at One programme that individual governments had to make the decision to suspend the system, not airports themselves, adding that queues lengthened while such decisions were being made.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
Dark shadows lengthened and covered more than half the land.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
The study, however, didn’t attribute the lengthening delays to flaws in the single-payer system, but rather to the increasing complexity of cancer care and changes in hospital practices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Rising temperatures have added more warm, humid days to the calendar in much of the US, lengthening the season in which the disease-carrying insects thrive.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
The average monthly new-car payment reached a record $777 in the second quarter, with record levels of buyers lengthening their loans past six and seven years, recent data from Edmunds.com shows.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
Wolters is now more explicitly highlighting macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, with softening second-half momentum and lengthening sales cycles, he adds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
The sun was already as good as set, the last wisps of day sliding across the grassy courtyard we affectionally called the Mall to be replaced by the lengthening shadows of twilight.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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.
