lengthen

[ lengk-thuhn, leng-, len- ]

See synonyms for lengthen on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)

to make longer; make greater in length.

verb (used without object)

to become greater in length; grow long or longer.

Origin of lengthen

First recorded in 1490–1500; length + -en¹

synonym study For lengthen

1. Lengthen, extend, stretch, prolong, protract agree in the idea of making longer. To lengthen is to make longer, either in a material or an immaterial sense: to lengthen a dress. To extend is to lengthen beyond some original point or so as to reach a certain point: to extend a railway line by a hundred miles. To stretch is primarily to lengthen by drawing or tension: to stretch a rubber band. Both prolong and protract mean especially to lengthen in time, and therefore apply to intangibles. To prolong is to continue beyond the desired, estimated, or allotted time: to prolong an interview. To protract is to draw out to undue length or to be slow in coming to a conclusion: to protract a discussion.

Other words for lengthen

1	elongate, draw out

See synonyms for lengthen on Thesaurus.com

Opposites for lengthen

shorten

See antonyms for lengthen on Thesaurus.com

Other words from lengthen

length·en·er, noun
outlengthen, verb (used with object)
un·length·ened, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use lengthen in a sentence

I shut my eyes yet felt aware of the garden at my elbow, the blooms opening as if in time-lapse, the stalks lengthening.
Denis Johnson’s Beautiful Apocalypse | Nicholas Mancusi | November 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
It is never held but chased under the lengthening shadows of habit and fear.
He Left Nirvana Because He Had Cooler Things to Do. Like Going to Iraq. | Jacob Siegel | April 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
If they all switch to eating red meat, then ten years later, red meat will look like some life-lengthening elixir.
Why I'm Cutting Back on Red Meat | Megan McArdle | April 8, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Fossil corals are silent witnesses to the lengthening of days.
How Long Is a Year? Is the Earth Slowing Down? And Other Questions About Time | Neil Shubin | January 6, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
In the new book, Vaillant returns bearing another three decades of data as well as his own lengthening perspective.
What Harvard’s Grant Study Reveals about Happiness and Life | Dan Slater | November 7, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST

But the shadows are lengthening, the days come and go, and still my name has not appeared on the court calendar.
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander Berkman
In the leaping kangaroo and jerboa a shortening of the arms and lengthening of the legs appear.
Man And His Ancestor | Charles Morris
The Factor stood at the open door, watching the slowly gathering shadows lengthening upon the trees.
Menotah | Ernest G. Henham
More than once Coronado sickened of his seemingly hopeless and ever lengthening pilgrimage of sin.
Overland | John William De Forest
"We never knowed it war you," whined the other carefully lengthening the distance between the big man on the doorstep and himself.
The Shepherd of the Hills | Harold Bell Wright

British Dictionary definitions for lengthen

lengthen

/ (ˈlɛŋkθən, ˈlɛŋθən) /

verb

to make or become longer

Derived forms of lengthen

lengthener, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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