deepen

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to become or make a feeling, situation, or quality stronger or more intense

   The long conversation helped deepen their trust in one another.

2. 2
   verb

   to become physically deeper or to make something deeper

   Engineers plan to deepen the channel so larger ships can enter.

3. 3
   verb

   to become lower in pitch or darker in color, or to make something so

   His voice began to deepen during adolescence.

Formed in English from deep + -en, the suffix meaning 'make or become.' The physical sense of making something deeper broadened to greater intensity, seriousness, darkness, or depth of pitch.

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