Increase, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Increased; p. pr. & vb. n. Increasing.]
Etymology: [OE. incresen, encresen, enrescen, OF. encreistre, fr. L. increscere; pref. in- in + crescere to grow. See Crescent, and cf. Decrease.]
1. To become greater or more in size, quantity, number, degree, value, intensity, power, authority, reputation, wealth; to grow; to augment; to advance; -- opposed to decrease. The waters increased and bare up the ark. Gen. vii. 17. He must increase, but I must decrease. John iii. 30. The heavens forbid But that our loves and comforts should increase, Even as our days do grow! Shak.
2. To multiply by the production of young; to be fertile, fruitful, or prolific. Fishes are more numerous of increasing than beasts or birds, as appears by their numerous spawn. Sir M. Hale.
3. (Astron.)
To become more nearly full; to show more of the surface; to wax; as, the moon increases. Increasing function (Math.), a function whose value increases when that of the variable increases, and decreases when the latter is diminished.
1 more senses
Syn. -- To enlarge; extend; multiply; expand; develop; heighten; amplify; raise; enhance; spread; aggravate; magnify; augment; advance. -- To Increase, Enlarge, Extend. Enlarge implies to make larger or broader in size. Extend marks the progress of enlargement so as to have wider boundaries. Increase denotes enlargement by growth and internal vitality, as in the case of plants. A kingdom is enlarged by the addition of new territories; the mind is enlarged by knowledge. A kingdom is extended when its boundaries are carried to a greater distance from the center. A man's riches, honors, knowledge, etc., are increased by accessions which are made from time to time.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Increase, v. t.
To augment or make greater in bulk, quantity, extent, value, or amount, etc.; to add to; to extend; to lengthen; to enhance; to aggravate; as, to increase one's possessions, influence. I will increase the famine. Ezek. v. 16. Make denials Increase your services. Shak.
Increase, n.
1. Addition or enlargement in size, extent, quantity, number, intensity, value, substance, etc.; augmentation; growth. As if increase of appetite had grown By what if fed on. Shak. For things of tender kind for pleasure made Shoot up with swift increase, and sudden are decay'd. Dryden.
2. That which is added to the original stock by augmentation or growth; produce; profit; interest. Take thou no usury of him, or increase. Lev. xxv. 36. Let them not live to taste this land's increase. Shak.
3. Progeny; issue; offspring. All the increase of thy house shall die in the flower of their age. 1 Sam. ii. 33.
4. Generation. [Obs.] "Organs of increase." Shak.
5. (Astron.)
The period of increasing light, or luminous phase; the waxing; -- said of the moon. Seeds, hair, nails, hedges, and herbs will grow soonest if set or cut in the increase of the moon. Bacon. Increase twist, the twixt of a rifle groove in which the angle of twist increases from the breech to the muzzle.
Syn. -- Enlargement; extension; growth; development; increment; addition; accession; production.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for increase; he lists it under add, amplify, harvest, progress.
Where he writes about it:
To add is to increase by adjoining or uniting: in distinction from multiply, which is to increase by repeating. — from add
To augment a thing is to increase it by any means, but this word is seldom used directly of material objects; we do not augment a house, a farm, a nation, etc. — from add
Amplify is now rarely used in the sense of increase, to add material substance, bulk, volume, or the like; it is now almost wholly applied to discourse or writing, signifying to make fuller in statement, whether with or without adding matter of importance, as by stating fully what was before only implied, or by adding illustrations to make the meaning more readily apprehended, etc. — from amplify
In a thing good in itself all advance or progress is improvement; there is a growing tendency to restrict the words to this favorable sense, using increase indifferently of good or evil; one may say without limitation, "I am an advocate of progress." — from progress