Enhance

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ɪnˈhɑːns/
• GenAm IPA: /ɪnˈhæns/
• Rhymes: -ɑːns, -æns
• Rhymes: -æns

Alternative forms

• inhance
• enhaunce
• inhaunce

Origin

Middle English enhauncen, from Anglo-Norman enhauncer, from Old French enhaucier ("make greater"), from Late Latin *inaltare ("exalt"), from Latin in + altus ("high").

Full definition of enhance

Verb

1. (obsolete) To lift, raise up.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.i:nought aghast, his mightie hand enhaunst:
  The stroke down from her head vnto her shoulder glaunst.
2. To augment or make something greater.
• SoutheyThe reputation of ferocity enhanced the value of their services, in making them feared as well as hated.
• 2000, Mordecai Roshwald, Liberty: Its Meaning and Scope, page 155A hereditary monarch relies on pomp and ceremony, which enhance the respect for the institution
3. To improve something by adding features.
• 1986, Maggie Righetti, Knitting in Plain English, page 192A 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.
4. (intransitive) To be raised up; to grow larger.A debt enhances rapidly by compound interest.

Synonyms