Meaning & use
enhance
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Meanings
verbtransitive
to make something already good better in quality, value, or attractiveness
Grammar: Takes an object: enhance the picture. It is not used without an object.
Patterns
- enhance something
- enhance the quality of something
- greatly enhance something
A little lemon juice enhances the flavor of the fish.
The new lighting enhances the beauty of the old hall.
Regular practice enhances your chances of passing the exam.
verbtransitivetechnical
to increase the strength or amount of something, such as a feeling or an effect
Grammar: Takes an object; common in technical and business writing about effects and performance.
Patterns
- enhance performance
- enhance the effect of something
- enhance security
The software update enhances the phone's battery performance.
Bright colors can enhance the effect of a photograph.
The company enhanced security after the break-in.
Word forms
| third person singular | enhances |
|---|---|
| past tense | enhanced |
| past participle | enhanced |
| -ing form | enhancing |
Common combinations
- enhance the quality of
- Good editing can enhance the quality of your writing.
- enhance the experience
- Soft music enhanced the experience of dining outside.
- greatly enhance
- A good teacher can greatly enhance a student's confidence.
- enhance performance
- The new training program enhanced the team's performance.
- enhance your reputation
- Winning the prize enhanced her reputation as a researcher.
Synonyms and how they differ
- improve
- The general word for making anything better, including things that are bad; 'enhance' suggests adding value to something already good.
- boost
- More informal and often about increasing size or morale quickly; 'enhance' is more neutral and formal.
- strengthen
- About making something more powerful or secure, while 'enhance' is often about quality or appeal.
- heighten
- Often used with feelings and sensations, such as fear or awareness; 'enhance' is broader.
Opposites
Word family
- enhancement noun
- a change that makes something better
- enhanced adjective
- improved or made stronger
- enhancer noun
- something that improves a quality, often added to a product
Commonly confused: enhance or enhance vs. increase? enhance or enhance vs. fix?
enhance vs enhance vs. increase
'Increase' means make something larger in number or amount; 'enhance' means make it better in quality, not necessarily bigger.
enhance vs enhance vs. fix
'Fix' means repair something broken, but 'enhance' means improve something that already works well.
Practice
The chef added fresh herbs to ______ the flavor of the soup.
Choose one answer.
After 'to' we need the base verb 'enhance' to say what the herbs do. 'Enhancement' is a noun, 'enhancing' cannot follow 'to' here, and 'enhanced' is a past form that would not express purpose.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “enhance”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.