intensify synonyms

intensify

v.

strengthen, heighten, sharpen, emphasize, deepen, escalate, increase, aggravate, exacerbate, enhance, raise, point, step up, set off, tone up, brighten, lighten, darken, concentrate, redouble, augment, reinforce, magnify, amplify, add to, quicken, hop up*, jazz up*; see also increase 1, strengthen.

Antonyms decrease*, diminish*, relax.

intensify implies an increasing in the degree of force, vehemence, vividness, etc. his absence only intensified her longing; aggravate implies a making more serious, unbearable, etc. and connotes something that is unpleasant or troublesome in itself your insolence only aggravates the offense; to heighten is to make greater, stronger, more vivid, etc. so as to raise above the ordinary or commonplace music served to heighten the effect; enhance implies the addition of something so as to make more attractive or desirable she used cosmetics to enhance her beauty

Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.