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deepen

UK/ˈdiːpən/US/ˈdiːpən/
verbB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,285 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: deepened, deepening, deepens

To deepen is to make or become deeper. Deepen the channel, the crisis deepened, deepen your understanding.

It works both ways without changing form — you can deepen a hole and a mystery can deepen by itself. The figurative use is at least as common as the literal. Note the -en ending, which makes verbs from adjectives: widen, harden, sharpen.

Definitions of deepen

  1. 1verbdeepenTo make or become deeper.B2+

    “The river deepens quickly after the bridge, so don't swim there.”

deepen is a making deeper.

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *dʰewbʰ-

  2. Middle English

    dep

  3. English

    deep

  4. English, today

    deepen

From deep + -en. deep comes from Middle English dep. From Middle English dep, deep, depe, from Old English dēop (“deep, profound; awful, mysterious; heinous; serious, solemn, earnest; extreme, great”), from Proto-West Germanic deup, from Proto-Germanic deupaz (“deep”), from Proto-Indo-European dʰewbʰ- (“deep”). 2

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Word Building

Practise this word

deepen in the wild

  • Many of these restaurants keep their broth as a master stock, replenishing it as it simmers to let the flavor deepen and develop over many months and years.

    Oden

  • Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality.

    Spiritual direction

  • Meanwhile, he continued to deepen his spiritual practice and insights.

    Georg Kühlewind

  • Around Larke, the valley begins to deepen, and just after meeting Snare Run, the creek joins the Frankstown Branch Juniata River at Cove Forge.

    Clover Creek (Pennsylvania)

  • The finished dish is refrigerated for up to five days, allowing the flavors to deepen and meld.

    Vitello tonnato

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • deep
  • depth