heighten

Etymology

It is formed from English height + -en,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} or perhaps extends the older verb height with the same suffix.^[2][3] The Middle English form was heightenen, also hightenen.^[7][5] The base noun goes back to Old English hiehþu (“highest point, summit”), Anglian hehþo, from the root of heah (“high”) and an abstract-noun suffix.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To exalt, or to exalt oneself, be proud: about 1450, in the Alphabet of Tales.^[7][5][3] The OED's first record is from 1523, in Fitzherbert's Boke of Surveyeng, for "to increase, intensify",^[2] which Merriam-Webster Unabridged also gives as its first known use.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The first, figurative sense "to exalt, elate, excite" lasted until the late 17th century.^[3][2] From the 16th century the verb meant to make something higher, literally (1530) and in amount or degree (1523); from 1567 it was also used intransitively, to become higher.^[2] From 1622 painters spoke of heightening a colour, making it more luminous, the opposite of deepening it.^[2] Johnson (1755) listed the senses "to raise higher", "to improve", "to aggravate" and "to improve by decorations".^[8] In the 18th century the verb could mean to add to a description (1731, in Swift); from 1803 it was used of anything rising in degree.^[2] The figurative senses belong to a pattern, going back to Old English, of describing an increase in quantity in terms of size and height.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – to exalt; reflexive, to be proud.^[7][5]
• 1523 – to increase in amount or degree; to intensify.^[2][4]
• 1530 – to make higher; to add height to.^[2]
• 1567 – intransitive, to become higher (now rare).^[2]
• 1604 – to elate or excite (obsolete by 1692).^[2]
• 1622 – to make a colour more luminous.^[2][3]
• 1731 – to add detail to a description.^[2]
• 1803 – intransitive, to rise in amount or degree.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make greater or more intense; to intensify: The delay only heightened the suspense.^[10][4][2]
2. To become greater or more intense: Tension heightened as the deadline approached.^[10][2]
3. To make high or higher; to raise or elevate.^[10][2][3]
4. To make a colour brighter or more vivid.^[4][2][3]
5. To add detail to a story or description; to exaggerate.^[2][3]
6. (obsolete, 1604–1692) To exalt or elate.^[2][3]

Word family

• heightener

Related words

• height
• high

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus, University of Glasgow, mappingmetaphor.arts.gla.ac.uk
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins