potentiate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cause to be potent; make powerful.
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to increase the effectiveness of; intensify.
verb
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to cause to be potent
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med to increase (the individual action or effectiveness) of two drugs by administering them in combination with each other
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of potentiate
1810–20; < Latin potenti ( a ) power ( see potency) + -ate 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.
See Examples For:
He said: "In the scientific literature there are some reported synergies between viral respiratory infections, for example, flu and meningococcal infections as the viral infections may potentiate the spread."
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
"Ideally, we aim for venetoclax to potentiate the anti-leukemia properties of asparaginase while keeping its toxicity levels in check. These concepts warrant further investigation in future clinical trials."
From Science Daily ● Apr. 8, 2024
This prompted a Hebbian model in which ‘fear cells’ with co-active inputs conveying the paired CS–US presentations potentiate their responses to subsequent CS presentations1, 3, 5.
From Nature ● Mar. 21, 2017
And I think there are also conditions to modernize, to update and to find more advantages, so that it will potentiate shared common possibilities that we, the three partners, the three strategic partners have.
From Time ● Jul. 22, 2016
If physicians have given up on the problem and placed a subject on a maintenance drug dosage for pain, hypnosis can potentiate the drugs or even obviate them.
From A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis by Powers, Melvin
Schulze and Oren's team have now demonstrated this in adipocytes from mouse breast tissue: The cancer-promoting properties of adipocytes are potentiated when the breast cancer cells carry p53 mutations.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 3, 2024
He was not potentiated by a recession or a terrorist atrocity, let alone a nuclear war or a fertility crisis.
From The Guardian ● May 19, 2019
Previous studies found BLA neurons with potentiated responses to a CS, such as an auditory tone, after associative conditioning with an aversive US1, 2, 3.
From Nature ● Mar. 21, 2017
“Ford’s book is not everyone’s but it’s potentiated by a very real talent—broody, moody stuff with some strong writing.”
From Newsweek
Last Epoch, when the energies of intellect in the cycle of genius were, though in a rich and more potentiated form, becoming predominant over passion and creative self-manifestation.
From Literary Remains, Volume 2 by Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
Chromosomal changes alter the expression of many genes, potentiating progression to M1/PT-like genomes.
From Nature ● Sep. 18, 2013
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.
