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intensify

To intensify is to increase the intensity, force, or power of something. For some people, Burning Man isn't intense enough on its own: they need to intensify it with drugs.

You can see the word "intense" in intensify, which clues you in to the meaning of the verb. When you make something more intense, you intensify it — make it more of whatever it is. Believe it or not, a pinch of salt can actually intensify the sweetness of the sugar in a cake. It makes it even sweeter. Storm chasers never know whether a tornado will continue to intensify or begin to abate as they approach — and the difference could mean life or death for them.

DEFINITIONS OF: intensify

v increase in extent or intensity

Synonyms:: escalate, step up

Antonyms:: de-escalate, step down, weaken
reduce the level or intensity or size or scope of

Types:: redouble
double in magnitude, extent, or intensity

Type of:: increase
make bigger or more

v make more intense, stronger, or more marked

“"The efforts were intensified", "Her rudeness intensified his dislike for her”

Synonyms:: compound, deepen, heighten

Types:: show 8 types...; hide 8 types...; heat up, hot up, screw up
make more intense; fan
make (an emotion) fiercer; enhance, heighten, raise
increase; amplify
increase the volume of; sharpen
make crisp or more crisp and precise; heighten, sharpen
make (one's senses) more acute; potentiate
increase the effect of or act synergistically with (a drug or a physiological or biochemical phenomenon); subtilise, subtilize
make (senses) more keen

Type of:: increase
become bigger or greater in amount

v make the chemically affected part of (a negative) denser or more opaque in order produce a stronger contrast between light and dark

Type of:: alter, change, modify
cause to change; make different; cause a transformation

v become more intense

“The debate intensified”

Synonyms:: deepen

Types:: show 7 types...; hide 7 types...; build
develop and grow; redouble
make twice as great or intense; break open, burst out, erupt, flare, flare up, irrupt
erupt or intensify suddenly; condense
become more compact or concentrated; sharpen
become sharp or sharper; accelerate, quicken, speed, speed up
move faster; brisk, brisk up, brisken
become brisk

Type of:: increase
become bigger or greater in amount

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