thickening

[ thik-uh-ning ]

/ ˈθɪk ə nɪŋ /

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See synonyms for: thickening / thickenings on Thesaurus.com

noun

a making or becoming thick.

a thickened part or area; swelling.

something used to thicken; thickener.

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Origin of thickening

First recorded in 1570–80; thicken + -ing¹

Words nearby thickening

thick and thin, thick as thieves, thick client, thicken, thickener, thickening, thicket, thickhead, thickheaded, thickie, thick-knee

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use thickening in a sentence

In people, chronic high blood pressure causes a thickening of the heart muscles.
Heads up! The cardiovascular secrets of giraffes|Ars Staff|May 30, 2021|Ars Technica
As a cloud of aerosolized bone dust particles darkened overhead, reinforced by the thickening smell of singed bone, I wondered how much of my donor’s body I was inhaling.
You Can’t Dissect a Virtual Cadaver - Issue 99: Universality|Michael Denham|May 5, 2021|Nautilus
Over time, a thickening crust of limestone grows to blanket and strengthen the web.
Protecting the world’s vanishing coral reefs|Ari Daniel, PhD ’08|April 28, 2021|MIT Technology Review
Being student body president, you’re in the hot seat, and between the sort of thickening of my skin and the experiences I had, I finally was able to really just come to terms with the fact that there’s no path out of this.
‘I’m a Senator.’ Sarah McBride Takes No Prisoners, No Guff|Isabelle Lee|April 17, 2021|Ozy

Parks notes that grinding old-fashioned oats at home is not a good substitute for commercial oat flour, which is finer and includes the other parts of the grain that serve a nutritional and thickening purpose.
Get to know your oats, and all the types and ways to eat them|Becky Krystal|April 12, 2021|Washington Post
The baby would have found herself in a fast-moving and quickly thickening forest of huge legs.
How to Capture an Elephant: Excerpt From Michael Daly’s ‘Topsy’|Michael Daly|July 8, 2013|DAILY BEAST
When the hern or bitron flies low, the air is gross, and thickening into showers.
Notes and Queries, Number 194, July 16, 1853|Various
A street car landed him within two blocks of the address on the tag, and Bud walked through thickening fog and dusk to the place.
Cabin Fever|B. M. Bower
The glade was thickening with shadows, but the sunlight still marked the top of an elm and made glorious the zenith.
A Virginia Scout|Hugh Pendexter
Nearer came the sounds and louder, as they spread towards the fort through thickening shadows and the white dews of night.
Menotah|Ernest G. Henham
Sheet after sheet swept down the mountains like wind-driven clouds of mist thickening into water as they came.
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine|John Fox, Jr.

British Dictionary definitions for thickening

thickening

/ (ˈθɪkənɪŋ) /

noun

something added to a liquid to thicken it

a thickened part or piece

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

thickening

Origin of thickening

Words nearby thickening

Words related to thickening

How to use thickening in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for thickening