enrich
Americanverb (used with object)
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to supply with riches, wealth, abundant or valuable possessions, etc..
Commerce enriches a nation.
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to supply with abundance of anything desirable.
to enrich the mind with knowledge.
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to add greater value or significance to.
Art enriches life.
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to adorn or decorate.
a picture frame enriched with gold.
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to make finer in quality, as by supplying desirable elements or ingredients.
to enrich soil.
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Physics. to increase the proportion of a valuable mineral or isotope in (a substance or material).
The fuel was enriched with uranium 235 for the nuclear reactor.
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Nutrition.
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to restore to (a food) a nutrient that has been lost during an early stage of processing.
to enrich flour with thiamine, iron, niacin, and riboflavin.
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to add vitamins and minerals to (food) to enhance its nutritive value.
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verb
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to increase the wealth of
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to endow with fine or desirable qualities
to enrich one's experience by travelling
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to make more beautiful; adorn; decorate
a robe enriched with jewels
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to improve in quality, colour, flavour, etc
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to increase the food value of by adding nutrients
to enrich dog biscuits with calcium
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to make (soil) more productive, esp by adding fertilizer
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physics to increase the concentration or abundance of one component or isotope in (a solution or mixture); concentrate
to enrich a solution by evaporation
enrich a nuclear fuel
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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enrichernoun
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enrichmentnoun
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enrichedadjective
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self-enrichingadjective
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unenrichingadjective
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enrichinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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enrichsimple
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enrichessimple
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have enrichedperfect
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has enrichedperfect
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am enrichingprogressive
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are enrichingprogressive
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is enrichingprogressive
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have been enrichingperfect progressive
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has been enrichingperfect progressive
Past
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enrichedsimple
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had enrichedperfect
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was enrichingprogressive
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were enrichingprogressive
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had been enrichingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of enrich
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English enrichen, from Old French enrichir; equivalent to en- 1 + rich
Explanation
To enrich something is to make it richer, or to improve the quality of it. You play the lottery because it might enrich your bank account; you play ping-pong to enrich your quality of life. Regardless of the sense it is used in, the key to enrich is the word rich (you can almost think of it as the verb form of the adjective). So to enrich something is to make it rich, richer, or just plain better. Enrich always needs an object: You can’t visit a wax museum just to enrich, but you can go to enrich your life. Verbs that enrich include improve, enhance, cultivate, better, and develop.
Vocabulary lists containing enrich
Lyndon B. Johnson on "The Great Society" (1964)
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List 1
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Obama's State of the Union Address, 2014
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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:
The snails, which measure no bigger than a third of an inch or 8mm in size, are important as they eat vegetation and enrich the soil.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Saudi Arabia rejected the so-called “gold standard,” a commitment never to enrich uranium at home or reprocess the spent fuel from a reactor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Rather than simply reusing existing wax, queen cell builders actively collect, modify, and enrich materials used in royal chambers.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
The two sides released starkly different accounts of the proposed agreement, with Tehran insisting on its right to enrich uranium and maintain control over the Strait of Hormuz.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
The capitalism that bloomed in the cities and small towns of North Korea weakened the government’s iron grip on everyday life and did little to enrich the state.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
Phillips, who grew up in Brecon Beacons, has always been a fan of sport and believes it enriches people's lives, so was keen to combine his passion with bringing people safely into sports.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
"We believe it's only fair that large digital platforms contribute to the hard work that enriches their feeds and that drives their revenue."
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
We are compelled to speculate, which enriches the drama.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026
Actually, no — it’s just the latest in a long line of inventions, one that enriches workers and improves daily life.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 1, 2026
New ways of stringing words and sentences together come into fashion and vanish again, but the underlying structure simply grows, enriches itself, expands.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
By common understanding, uranium must be enriched to a level of 20 percent purity to be deemed “highly enriched” and 90 percent to be “weapons-grade.”
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026
The enriched flour, high-fructose corn syrup, and tallow that help make up the American classic give each small sponge cake about 65 days to be consumed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Areas containing these cells were enriched with specific fats linked to long lasting inflammatory activity.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 29, 2026
Grossi said an alternative to diluting the enriched uranium could be to ship it out of Iran.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
Then he enriched it with terms of singular aggressiveness, put it in an envelope, and mailed it.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
In other words, he seems to think that if the facility is enriching uranium at all, it is by definition military—i.e., its purpose is to build nuclear weapons.
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026
“International students and scholars bring unique perspectives to our classrooms and research teams, enriching the learning environment and helping us find more creative and effective solutions to the world’s problems,” said Stanford spokesperson Angie Davis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
That finding suggests that planetary engulfment may not be the only process capable of enriching a star with lithium, creating another question for astronomers to investigate.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
It also has an unknown number of centrifuges used for enriching uranium.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
The rivers flood in the rainy season, enriching the land, Nile Delta style.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
