Link Centre Dictionary

strengthen

strengt·hen

UK/ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/ US/ˈstɹɛnθən/ fairly common

verb

1.

make strong or stronger

  • “This exercise will strengthen your upper body”
  • “strenghten the relations between the two countries”
Synonyms
Antonyms
2.

gain strength

  • “His body strengthened”
Antonyms
3.

give a healthy elasticity to

  • “Let”
Synonyms

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • strengthen up
  • strengthening plaster

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.