Strengthen
['streŋθ(ə)n;-ŋkθ(ə)n] or ['strɛŋθn]
Definition
(verb.) gain strength; 'His body strengthened'.
(verb.) make strong or stronger; 'This exercise will strengthen your upper body'; 'strengthen the relations between the two countries'.
Typed by Greta--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To make strong or stronger; to add strength to; as, to strengthen a limb, a bridge, an army; to strengthen an obligation; to strengthen authority.
(v. t.) To animate; to encourage; to fix in resolution.
(v. i.) To grow strong or stronger.
Typist: Ora
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Fortify, brace, harden, steel, nerve, make strong, make stronger, give strength to, add strength to.[2]. Intensify, make more intense.[3]. Invigorate, animate, impart health to.[4]. Confirm, corroborate, establish, justify, sustain, support.
v. n. Grow strong.
Inputed by Betty
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Confirm, establish, fix, corroborate, secure, invigorate, fortify,{[incri-Hso]?}
ANT:Weaken, disestablish, shake, loosen, sap, undermine, debilitate, diminish
Typist: Merritt
Examples
- It is easy to see, that this property must strengthen the child's relation to the father, and weaken that to the mother. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- The big men from Machiavelli through Rousseau to Karl Marx brought history, logic, science and philosophy to prop up and strengthen their deepest desires. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- While the benefits derived were not directly pecuniary in their nature, they were such as tended to strengthen commercially the position of the rightful owners of the patents. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- On the 12th I learned that Lee had sent twenty pieces of artillery, two divisions of infantry and a considerable cavalry force to strengthen Early. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- When would the days begin of that active wifely devotion which was to strengthen her husband's life and exalt her own? George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Increase me in that wisdom which discovers my truest interest: Strengthen my resolution to perform what that wisdom dictates! Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- It is his duty to strengthen and reduce and otherwise manipulate the plates so that they will, when finally printed, have the desired result. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Miss Bates's powerful, argumentative mind might have strengthened yours. Jane Austen. Emma.
- And the rays were hastening in in thin lines of light, to return to the strengthened moon, that shook upon the water in triumphant reassumption. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Another circumstance strengthened and confirmed these feelings. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- The change in her, strengthened the cherub's interest in number four, and he said quietly: 'May not be so, my dear? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- And it is impossible to tell when the habit thus strengthened may have a direct and perceptible influence on our association with others. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Then, as usual, she felt ashamed of her selfish thoughts and prayed inwardly to be strengthened to do her duty. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Mr. Moore haunted his mill, his mill-yard, his dye-house, and his warehouse till the sickly dawn strengthened into day. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- A departure was early made in the matter of strengthening the ribs of oak to better meet the strains from the rough seas. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The time, however, was spent in strengthening the intrenchments and making our position generally more secure against a sudden attack. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Electricity can have no greater mission than improving, strengthening and upbuilding good homes. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Whatever they could prove (which is usually anything you like), they proved there, in an army constantly strengthening by the arrival of new recruits. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- She feared it was a strengthening regard. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- I should like him to tell me how I could bear up at Fair time, if I didn't take strengthening medicine for a month beforehand. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- You've much need, sir, I'm sure, said Mrs. Abel, and to take something more strengthening than what you've done. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Because it strengthens a suspicion I felt when you gave me the letter to read. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Tuning forks do not produce strong tones unless mounted on hollow wooden boxes (Fig. 175), whose size and shape are so adjusted that resonance occurs and strengthens the sound. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- Time strengthens him in all possibility as much as it does you. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- When a human being talks or sings, the air within the mouth cavity is thrown into sympathetic vibration and strengthens the otherwise feeble tone of the speaker. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- Custom also, or acquaintance facilitates the entrance, and strengthens the conception of any object. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- It strengthens the disease, said the Rector's wife, much too well-born not to be an amateur in medicine. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- The transition from a present impression, always enlivens and strengthens any idea. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
Checked by Karol