Meaning & use
trebled
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“trebled” is a form of “treble”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
verbtransitive or intransitiveBritish
Became three times as large or as many; or made something three times larger.
Grammar: With an object it means make three times bigger; without one, it means become three times bigger: sales trebled.
Patterns
- something trebles
- treble something
- treble in size
The price of the house trebled in ten years.
The company trebled its output after the merger.
Visitor numbers trebled over the summer.
Word forms
| third person singular | trebles |
|---|---|
| past tense | trebled |
| past participle | trebled |
| -ing form | trebling |
Common combinations
- profits trebled
- Profits trebled after the new launch.
- trebled in size
- The village trebled in size after the factory opened.
- trebled in price
- Fuel trebled in price in a single year.
- more than trebled
- The population more than trebled.
- nearly trebled
- Her income nearly trebled.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tripled
- Tripled means the same and is the usual American form, while trebled is more common in Britain.
- increased threefold
- Increased threefold is longer and more formal, but it means the same amount of growth.
- multiplied
- Multiplied is vaguer because it does not say how many times larger something became.
- tripled up
- Tripled up is informal and usually means sharing in threes, so it does not mean the same thing.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: trebled or troubled? trebled or doubled?
trebled vs troubled
Troubled means worried or disturbed, and it has no connection to numbers.
trebled vs doubled
Doubled means two times; trebled means three times.
Practice
If an amount of 20 has trebled, it is now ___.
Choose one answer.
Trebled means multiplied by three, so 20 becomes 60. Forty is doubled, and the others are not three times.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “trebled”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.