heighten

heighten — verb

1. to become greater in degree or strength, or to cause an emotion, effect, or situ

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveB2
Definition

to become greater in degree or strength, or to cause an emotion, effect, or situation to become greater in degree or strength — for example, when a sudden noise heightens your fear, or when competition heightens the tension between players.

Example

The long wait only heightened Nkechi's anxiety about the test results.

transitive + emotion object (anxiety)

Ezra's fear heightened when he heard footsteps following him through the quiet park at night.

intransitive: emotion as subject

Common collocations
  • heighten awareness
  • heighten tension
  • heighten anxiety
  • heighten fear
  • heighten the sense of
  • heighten the effect of
  • heighten one's emotions
  • heighten the contrast
Synonyms
  • intensify

    stronger and more formal; implies making something more extreme in degree

  • amplify

    suggests making something more noticeable or audible, especially sound or effect

  • escalate

    implies a gradual rise, often of conflict or tension; carries a more dramatic tone

  • increase

    broader and more neutral; used for both concrete and abstract quantities

Antonyms
  • reduce

    general opposite; to make smaller in amount or degree

  • diminish

    suggests a gradual decrease in strength or intensity

  • lessen

    neutral opposite; to become or make smaller in degree

Grammar Patterns

heighten + noun phrase

heighten (no object)

be heightened + by + noun phrase

Usage Note

Can be used both transitively (The noise heightened their fear) and intransitively (Their fear heightened). The passive form (be heightened) is common, especially when the cause of the increase is stated with by.

Common Mistakes

The company heightened the salaries of all employees.
The company raised the salaries of all employees.
heighten is not used for concrete/physical increases like salary or height; use raise or increase for those.
The chef heightened the soup.
The chef heightened the flavour of the soup.
heighten needs an object that is an abstract quality (flavour, intensity, effect), not a concrete thing.

Word family

  • height
    nounA2
  • heightened
    adjectiveB2
  • high
    adjectiveA1
  • highly
    adverbB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All five words involve making something greater, but they differ in what kind of thing can be made greater and how. Heighten is the most versatile for emotions and sensory qualities — you can heighten fear, flavour, tension, or awareness, but not concrete things like salary or height. Intensify is stronger and more formal, often used for effort, colour, or pain ('The heat intensified'). Escalate suggests a steady rise that may get out of control, typically used for conflict, costs, or violence. Amplify is about making something more noticeable or audible, especially sound, signal, or effect ('The microphone amplified her voice'). Increase is the broadest and most neutral, covering both concrete and abstract domains ('increase speed / increase happiness'). Choose heighten when you want to focus on making an existing quality more acute rather than simply larger.

heighten ↗intensify ↗escalate ↗amplifyincrease ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • greatly heightened
  • further heightened
  • dramatically heightened
  • significantly heightened
  • deliberately heightened

Phrases

  • heighten the sense of
  • heighten the level of
  • heighten awareness of
  • heighten the risk of

Prepositions

  • heightened by
  • heightened with

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Formed from the adjective height (an earlier variant of high) combined with the suffix -en, which means 'to make or become'. The word first appeared in the 1400s with a literal meaning of 'to raise higher', and by the 1600s it had developed the figurative meaning of 'to intensify' that is the main sense today.