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STRENGTHENING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of increasing the strength of something
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("strengthening" is a kind of...):
increase; step-up (the act of increasing something)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "strengthening"):
concentration (strengthening the concentration (as of a solute in a mixture) by removing diluting material)
Antonym:
weakening (the act of reducing the strength of something)
Derivation:
strengthen (make strong or stronger)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Becoming stronger
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("strengthening" is a kind of...):
shift; transformation; transmutation (a qualitative change)
Antonym:
weakening (becoming weaker)
Derivation:
strengthen (gain strength)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb strengthen
Context examples:
She feared it was a strengthening regard.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
She said little, assented only here and there, and betrayed no inclination either of appropriating any part of the compliment to herself, or of strengthening his views in favour of Northamptonshire.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal complex organic molecules originating from Saturn's icy moon Enceladus, strengthening the idea that this ocean world hosts conditions suitable for life.
(Complex Organics Bubble up from Enceladus, NASA)
The wind was strengthening steadily and the sea rising.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
What qualifications were necessary in those who are to be created new lords: whether the humour of the prince, a sum of money to a court lady, or a design of strengthening a party opposite to the public interest, ever happened to be the motive in those advancements?
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
On the contrary, she spoke of him with such bitterness that she was unconsciously considerably strengthening the case of the police for, of course, if her son had heard her speak of the man in this fashion, it would predispose him towards hatred and violence.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The doctor here will bear me out that on one occasion I tried to kill him for the purpose of strengthening my vital powers by the assimilation with my own body of his life through the medium of his blood—relying, of course, upon the Scriptural phrase, 'For the blood is the life.'
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
A similar pattern emerged near the end of that cold snap, transitioning out of the ice age; the current started strengthening roughly 400 years before the atmosphere began to heat up dramatically, when Greenland warmed up rapidly — its average temperature climbed by about 8 degrees over just a few decades, causing glaciers to melt and sea ice to drop off considerably in the North Atlantic.
(A new study is the first to measure the time lags between changing ocean currents and major climate shifts., University of Cambridge)
Adaptive styles of humour include affiliative humour, which is aimed at strengthening social relationships.
(Self-defeating humour promotes psychological well-being, University of Granada)
