thicken
Americanverb (used with or without object)
-
thickens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
thickened,
past participle, past
-
thickening
present participle
-
to make or become thick or thicker.
-
to make or grow more intense, profound, intricate, or complex.
The plot thickens.
verb
-
to make or become thick or thicker
thicken the soup by adding flour
-
(intr) to become more involved
the plot thickened
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
thickensimple
-
thickenssimple
-
have thickenedperfect
-
has thickenedperfect
-
am thickeningprogressive
-
are thickeningprogressive
-
is thickeningprogressive
-
have been thickeningperfect progressive
-
has been thickeningperfect progressive
Past
-
thickenedsimple
-
had thickenedperfect
-
was thickeningprogressive
-
were thickeningprogressive
-
had been thickeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of thicken
1375–1425; late Middle English thiknen < Old Norse thykkna. See thick, -en 1
Explanation
To thicken is to become denser or to make something thicker. When you accidentally burn dinner, the smoke in the kitchen thickens. Time to get the fire extinguisher. There are two ways to thicken: to become thick or to make thick. Cooks often use flour or cornstarch to thicken sauces. And when you add flour to your brownie batter, you thicken it. An earlier, now obsolete meaning was "to crowd together." The phrase "the plot thickens" means that a situation is becoming more and more complicated or interesting.
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:
His shredding effect on electric guitar and multi-tracking to thicken his instrument’s sound dominate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
But forecasters at the National Weather Service warned the smoke may thicken overnight into Saturday morning.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
As the valve tissue degenerates, the thin flaps that should meet neatly can thicken, stretch, or lose their normal shape.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
The sauce is then finished with soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and chili paste along with a cornstarch slurry to thicken it.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
As we came near the village, the crowds started to thicken.
From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani
Greek yogurt tenderizes, it thickens, it adds richness without tipping into heaviness.
From Salon ● Apr. 28, 2026
Few writers since Henry James can create an atmosphere of doubt around events and character as effectively as this author does, and in “Venetian Vespers” the miasma thickens at every turn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
But keep your whisk moving, and you’ll feel it: the moment the sauce thickens, holds, and gleams just slightly.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2025
Over time, the valve thickens and stiffens, making the heart work harder to pump blood effectively around the body.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2024
Small blood clots begin to appear in the bloodstream, and the blood thickens and slows, and the clots begin to stick to the walls of blood vessels.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
When the sleepiest central bank on Earth becomes the one that matters, the plot has thickened.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Normal mice treated with high doses of SSRIs also developed thickened valves.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
Add 2 cups water or broth and simmer for 5 minutes, until slightly thickened and stew-like.
From Salon ● May 19, 2026
To get older, wiser and have your skin thickened by all the slings and arrows?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
The contagion caused severe diarrhea, dehydrating the body so that blood thickened; sufferers’ skin turned dark blue.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
On a humbler scale, Kail poetically marks the passage of time with a thickening palm tree.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
For hypertrophic cardiomyopathy—the thickening of heart muscles—it was 56 steps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
These polar "geoengineering" techniques aim to cool the planet in unconventional ways, such as artificially thickening sea-ice or releasing tiny, reflective particles into the atmosphere.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2025
“Let the pie cool completely before slicing. This allows the filling to finish thickening and gives you the best pie-eating experience.”
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2025
In fact, I was looking out over the lawn to where the mist was thickening down around the poplar trees planted along the cart-track, when I finally introduced the topic of the previous year's dismissals.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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.
