strengthen

CEFRB1

/ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To make someone or something stronger.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To augment; to improve; to intensify.

Examples

  • It is important to strengthen the basis.

  • It will also help to strengthen the city's economy.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • [ˈstɹeɪŋ(k)θən]
  • /ˈstɹɛnθən/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To empower; to give moral strength to; to encourage; to enhearten.

  2. To make strong or stronger; to add strength to; to increase the strength of; to fortify.

  3. To reinforce, to add to, to support (someone or something)

More examples

In context

  • We need to reorganize it in order to strengthen our business activities.

  • strengthen a muscle

  • strengthen a wall

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The coach gave the players exercises to blank their muscles for the game.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From rare Middle English strengthenen (14th c.), from earlier strengthen (12th c.), where -en is the infinitive ending. Probably the original form was reinterpreted as strength + -en around the time when the infinitive ending was being apocopated in late Middle English.