increase used intransitively implies progressive growth in size, amount, or intensity
his waistline increased with age
; used transitively it may imply simple not necessarily progressive addition.
increased her landholdings
enlarge implies expansion or extension that makes greater in size or capacity.
enlarged the kitchen
augment implies addition to what is already well grown or well developed.
the inheritance augmented his fortune
multiply implies increase in number by natural generation or by indefinite repetition of a process.
with each attempt the problems multiplied
Example Sentences
Verb… a former member of Brunet's team, Jean-Renaud Boisserie of Berkeley, is in the Middle Awash seeking to augment the animal fossil record—particularly that of hippopotamuses. Rex Dalton, Nature, 5 Jan. 2006These reserve units will soon be augmented by full-time Maritime Safety and Security Teams. The first of these teams was formed on July 3; a dozen more are supposed to be created within the next three years. David Helvarg, Popular Science, September 2002The sale of its shares in such companies has helped augment its cash reserves from $1.7 billion to $2 billion. Call it a rainy-day fund—something that other dot-coms never had. But the move also suggests that even Yahoo has lost faith in the once boundless promise of Internet companies. Brad Stone, Newsweek, 19 Mar. 2001 The money augmented his fortune. Heavy rains augmented the water supply.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
At Amazon, executives have spent billions of dollars this past year hoping to augment its Prime service, using A-list stars to lure subscribers. Erich Schwartzel, WSJ, 18 Aug. 2022 As such, the lists, written mostly by top officers, effectively augment the Pentagon budget requests in a way major nondefense departments and agencies do not. John M. Donnelly Cq-roll Call (tns), al, 4 Aug. 2022 With the trends of accelerated transformation, consider outsourcing expert functions to augment already stretched teams. Chris Macfarland, Forbes, 27 May 2022 The company attributes this sentiment to a concerted effort to retain and augment its onboarding process through periods of instability and a willingness to be creative and experiment with new formats. Aman Kidwai, Fortune, 31 Aug. 2022 At some point, the team will also explore whether the treatment can augment the abilities of healthy people. Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY, 23 Aug. 2022 In anticipation of the end of its contract with the TVA, the utility requested bids to augment its energy supply and will discuss them at a Sept. 1 meeting. Darryl Fears, Anchorage Daily News, 19 Aug. 2022 Media coverage of the shootings helped to augment that sense of fear that paralyzed the city through one of its hottest summers. Chris Harris, Peoplemag, 10 Aug. 2022 Eight new shows have been added to augment the 24 that were originally planned. Jonathan Cohen, SPIN, 25 July 2022
Noun
And Apple did a deal in 2020 for a startup called Spaces that helps augment video conferencing technology with virtual reality avatars. Paul R. La Monica, CNN, 1 Sep. 2022 Arizona lawmakers earlier this year approved a plan to spend more than $1 billion to augment water supplies and encourage conservation. Shaun Mckinnon, The Arizona Republic, 16 Aug. 2022 According to professionals, hair-growth vitamins work by supplementing the natural processes needed to bolster the hair-growth cycle and augment the deficiencies causing thinning. Harper's Bazaar Staff, Harper's BAZAAR, 19 July 2022 Often, the sweet spot of digital marketing is when all of the digital platforms support and augment each other. John Brandon, Forbes, 31 Jan. 2022 Fairtility utilizes computer vision algorithms to augment this process and predict the likely effectiveness of implantations. Ganes Kesari, Forbes, 30 June 2022 Functional images augment written text to help viewers understand a concept. Olga V. Mack, Forbes, 6 May 2022 Panic and duress buttons can be added to augment intrusion detection along with sirens and strobe lights. Scott Thomas, Rolling Stone, 17 June 2022 Some systems replace your pedaling while some augment your pedaling. Olivia Lipski, Good Housekeeping, 15 June 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Verb and Noun
Middle English, from Anglo-French augmenter, from Late Latin augmentare, from Latin augmentum increase, from augēre to increase — more at eke