increase

verb

1. 1

   (of a quantity, etc.) To become larger or greater, to greaten.

   His rage only increased when I told him of the lost money.

   The waters increased and bare up the ark.

   The heavens forbid / But that our loves and comforts should increase, / Even as our days do grow!

   I have reckoned upon a Medium, that a Child juſt born vvill vveigh 12 pounds, and in a ſolar Year if tollerably nurſed encreaſeth to 28 Pound.

2. 2

   To make (a quantity, etc.) larger.

   The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.

   Drivers like the idea of increasing traffic flow and reducing congestion on the portion of I-80 between Davis and West Sacramento.

3. 3

   To multiply by the production of young; to be fertile, fruitful, or prolific.

   Fishes are infinitely more numerous of increasing than Beasts or Birds, as appears by the numerous Spawn.

4. 4

   To become more nearly full; to show more of the surface; to wax.

   The Moon increases.

noun

1. 1

   An amount by which a quantity is increased.

   An increase of about 30% in hits on the website.

   She says an increase in melting from climate change may put that at risk.

2. 2

   For a quantity, the act or process of becoming larger.

   In socialist religion God was replaced by humanity, a superior creation in which the individual could find an object of love and worship: he could thus rise above his insignificant ego and experience the joy of sacrificing his own interest to the infinite increase of collective Being..

3. 3

   Offspring, progeny.

4. 4

   The creation of one or more new stitches; see Increase (knitting).

Forms

plural

increases

past tense

increased

past participle

increased

present participle

increasing

third person singular

increases