Meaning & use
enrich
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To make something better or more valuable by adding to it.
Grammar: Takes an object: enrich the experience; often with with.
Patterns
- enrich something
- enrich something with something
Traveling can enrich your understanding of other cultures.
The teacher tried to enrich the lessons with real stories.
Volunteering enriched her life in unexpected ways.
verbtransitive
To add nutrients or useful substances to food or soil.
Grammar: Often passive: the cereal is enriched with iron.
Patterns
- enrich something with something
Farmers enrich the soil with compost.
The flour is enriched with vitamins.
Fish oil can enrich the diet with omega-3.
verbtransitiveformal
To make a person or place wealthier.
Grammar: Often reflexive or about money: enrich yourself.
Patterns
- enrich someone
- enrich yourself
The gold rush enriched the small town.
He used the deal to enrich himself at others' expense.
The new trade route enriched many merchants.
verbtransitivetechnicalphysics
To increase the amount of a particular element in a material, such as uranium.
Grammar: A technical use: enrich uranium.
Patterns
- enrich something
The plant enriches uranium for use in reactors.
Scientists enriched the sample with a rare isotope.
Enriching the fuel makes it more powerful.
Word forms
| third person singular | enriches |
|---|---|
| past tense | enriched |
| past participle | enriched |
| -ing form | enriching |
Common combinations
- enrich your life
- Learning an instrument can enrich your life.
- enrich the soil
- Planting beans can enrich the soil.
- enriched with vitamins
- The cereal is enriched with vitamins.
- enrich the experience
- Local guides enrich the experience for visitors.
- enrich uranium
- The country plans to enrich uranium.
Synonyms and how they differ
- improve
- Improve is a general word, while enrich implies adding something valuable.
- enhance
- Enhance means to make something already good better, but it need not add a new element.
- fortify
- Fortify means to strengthen, often food or a defense, and is stronger than enrich.
- enlarge
- Enlarge means to make bigger, while enrich is about quality.
Opposites
Word family
- enrichment noun
- the act of making richer
- enriched adjective
- improved by additions
- enriching adjective
- making life more rewarding
- rich adjective
- having great wealth or abundance
Commonly confused: enrich or enrol? enrich or enhance?
enrich vs enrol
Enrol (enroll in the US) means to register for a course, which is unrelated to enrich.
enrich vs enhance
Enhance improves the quality of something, while enrich adds value or substance.
Practice
Farmers often ___ the soil with compost to help crops grow.
Choose one answer.
Enrich means to add something valuable, here nutrients. Impoverish is the opposite, and enroll and enlist are about joining something.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “enrich”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.