different between heighten vs enlarge

English

Etymology

From Middle English heightenen, hyghtenen, equivalent to height +? -en (verbal suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ha?t?n/
• Rhymes: -a?t?n

Verb

heighten (third-person singular simple present heightens, present participle heightening, simple past and past participle heightened)

1. To make high; to raise higher; to elevate.
2. To advance, increase, augment, make larger, more intense, stronger etc.

   “That’s heightened by the impact of climate change,” she added.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English enlargen, from Old French enlargier, enlargir.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?l??d??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?l??d??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)d?

Verb

enlarge (third-person singular simple present enlarges, present participle enlarging, simple past and past participle enlarged)

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

1. (transitive) To make (something) larger.
2. (intransitive) To grow larger.
3. (transitive) To increase the capacity of; to expand; to give free scope or greater scope to; also, to dilate, as with joy, affection, etc.

   • O ye Corinthians, our […] heart is enlarged.

4. (intransitive) To speak or write at length upon or on (some subject); expand; elaborate
   • 1664, Samuel Butler, Hudibras 2.2.68:

     I shall enlarge upon the Point.

5. (archaic) To release; to set at large.
   • 1580, Philip Sidney, Arcadia 329:

     Like a Lionesse lately enlarged.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.8:

     Finding no meanes how I might us enlarge, / But if that Dwarfe I could with me convay, / I lightly snatcht him up and with me bore away.

   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, Of Contentment (sermon)

     It will enlarge us from all restraints.

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act II Scene II:

     Uncle of Exeter, enlarge the man committed yesterday, that rail'd against our person. We consider it was excess of wine that set him on.

6. (nautical) To get more astern or parallel with the vessel's course; to draw aft; said of the wind.
7. (law) To extend the time allowed for compliance with (an order or rule).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Abbott to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (make larger, expand): embiggen, enlargen, largen, greaten
• (speak or write at length): dilate, expatiate

Related terms

• magnify
• supersize

Translations

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “enlarge”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

Anagrams

• General, general, gleaner, reangle