enhance

English

Alternative forms

• inhance, enhaunce, inhaunce (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English enhauncen, anhaunsen, from Anglo-Norman anhauncer (“enhance, raise”), from Vulgar Latin *inaltiāre (“raise”), derived from Latin in altus (“high”). The /h/ in Old French was taken from haut (“high”), where it resulted from Frankish influence.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈhɑːns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈhæns/, /ɛnˈhæns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːns, -æns

Verb

enhance (third-person singular simple present enhances, present participle enhancing, simple past and past participle enhanced)

1. (obsolete) To lift, raise up.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     nought aghast, his mightie hand enhaunst: / The stroke down from her head vnto her shoulder glaunst.

3. To augment or make something greater.
   • 1831, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More: Or Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, page 214:

     They had no character to preserve, except for courage; and perhaps the reputation of ferocity enhanced the value of their services, in making them feared as well as hated by the people.

   • 2000, Mordecai Roshwald, Liberty: Its Meaning and Scope, page 155:

     A hereditary monarch relies on pomp and ceremony, which enhance the respect for the institution

4. To improve something by adding features.
   • 1986, Maggie Righetti, Knitting in Plain English, page 192:

     A pom-pom to top off a stocking cap, a fringe to feather the edge of a shawl, tassels to define the points of an afghan, these are just a few of the delightful little goodies that enhance handknit things.

5. (intransitive) To be raised up; to grow larger.

   A debt enhances rapidly by compound interest.

6. (radiology) To take up contrast agent (for an organ, tissue, or lesion).

Synonyms

• heighten
• See also Thesaurus:improve

Antonyms

• dehance

Translations

augment or make something greater — see also augment

• Bulgarian: увеличавам (bg) (uveličavam), повишавам (bg) (povišavam)
• Catalan: augmentar (ca)
• Dutch: vergroten (nl), uitbreiden (nl)
• Esperanto: pliigi
• Finnish: parantaa (fi)
• French: augmenter (fr), accroître (fr)
• German: erhöhen (de), vergrößern (de)
• Italian: accrescere (it), intensificare (it), incrementare (it), avanzare (it), sviluppare (it), rafforzare (it), favorire (it)
• Macedonian: уве́личи pf (uvéliči), увели́чува impf (uvelíčuva)
• Maori: whakamarohi, whakangako
• Middle English: enhauncen
• Persian: بهتر کردن (behtar kardan)
• Portuguese: aumentar (pt)
• Russian: увели́чивать (ru) impf (uvelíčivatʹ), увели́чить (ru) pf (uvelíčitʹ), повыша́ть (ru) impf (povyšátʹ), повы́сить (ru) pf (povýsitʹ), уси́ливать (ru) impf (usílivatʹ), уси́лить (ru) pf (usílitʹ)
• Spanish: aumentar (es), augmentar, embonar (es)
• Turkish: artırmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: збільшувати (zbilʹšuvaty)
• Volapük: geilükumön (vo)

improve something by adding features

• Bulgarian: подобря́вам (bg) (podobrjávam)
• Catalan: millorar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 改善 (zh) (gǎishàn)

• Dutch: uitbreiden (nl), verbeteren (nl)
• Esperanto: plibonigi
• Finnish: parantaa (fi)
• French: améliorer (fr)
• German: verbessern (de)
• Italian: migliorare (it), arricchire (it), potenziare (it), progredire (it), valorizzare (it)
• Macedonian: по́добри (pódobri)
• Maori: whakarākai, whakarāwai, whakangako
• Persian: اضافه کردن (fa) (ezâfe kardan), افزودن (fa) (afzudan)
• Polish: poprawiać (pl), poprawić (pl), polepszać (pl), polepszyć
• Portuguese: melhorar (pt)
• Russian: улучша́ть (ru) impf (ulučšátʹ), улу́чшить (ru) pf (ulúčšitʹ)
• Spanish: realzar (es), augmentar
• Swedish: förbättra (sv)
• Turkish: geliştirmek (tr), iyileştirmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: покращувати (pokraščuvaty)
• Volapük: gudükumön (vo)

Middle English

Verb

enhance

1. Alternative form of enhauncen