Link Centre Dictionary

thicken

thic·ken

US/ˈθɪkən/ fairly common literary

verb

1.

make thick or thicker

  • “Thicken the sauce”
  • “inspissate the tar so that it becomes pitch”
Synonyms
Antonyms
2.

become thick or thicker

  • “The sauce thickened”
  • “The egg yolk will inspissate”
Synonyms
Antonyms
3.

make viscous or dense

  • “thicken the sauce by adding flour”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English thickenen, thikkenen, perhaps from Old Norse þykkna (“to thicken”); equivalent to thick + -en. Cognate with Swedish tjockna (“to thicken”), Icelandic þykkna (“to thicken”).

Phrases

  • the plot thickens
  • thicken up

Related words

Word family

Broader 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.