deepen
verb
Simple meaning
Make more intense, stronger, or more marked.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
deepuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdipən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To make deep or deeper
“They deepened the lake so that bigger pleasure boats could use it.”
Make more intense, stronger, or more marked
transitive
To make darker or more intense; to darken
transitive
To make more poignant or affecting; to increase in degree
transitive
To make more thorough or extensive.
Become deeper in tone
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: To make deep or deeper
Used this way, deepen is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“They deepened the lake so that bigger pleasure boats could use it.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use deepen
- “They deepened the lake so that bigger pleasure boats could use it.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A process of becoming deeper and more profound.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- broadenverb
- strengthenverb
- insightnoun
- meditationnoun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.