Meanings
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1
verb
To make something stronger or more powerful.
Regular exercise will strengthen your muscles.
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2
verb
To become stronger.
The wind strengthened as the storm moved closer.
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3
verb
To support an idea or argument with more evidence.
New data strengthened their case for the policy change.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
Opposites
Word family
Forms
strengthenedstrengtheningstrengthens
Derived forms
enstrengtheninstrengthennonstrengthenedprestrengthenrestrengthenstrengthenablestrengthenerstrengtheninglyunstrengthenedunstrengthening
Related forms
augment
Etymology
From rare Middle English strengthenen (14th c.), from earlier strengthen (12th c.), where -en is the infinitive ending. Probably the original form was reinterpreted as strength + -en around the time when the infinitive ending was being apocopated in late Middle English.
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