elevate

EL-uh-vayt/ˈɛləveɪt/

As an adjectiveEL-uh-vit

12 meanings of elevate

1
verbtransitive
To lift something, or move it upward, so that it is held or positioned higher.
Doctors often advise patients to elevate an injured limb above heart level.
The platform can elevate the camera for a wider view.
Similarraise, lift
Oppositelower, drop
Note
The literal sense the rest climb out of. Middle English elevaten already meant to raise up or erect, and it could also mean to elate with pride or, in alchemy, to vaporize. A Prymer in Englyshe (1534) has children saying grace with hands elevated and joined. The doctor's advice to elevate your legs keeps that physical, slightly formal flavor. Lift and raise are the everyday words, and lower is the plain opposite.
2
verbtransitive
To make someone or something more worthy or of greater value.
A thoughtful design can elevate an everyday object into a work of art.
The chef's attention to detail elevates simple ingredients to fine dining.
Similarraise, lift, transform
Oppositecheapen, debase, degrade
3
verbtransitive
To raise the level of something, making it stronger or greater.
Stress hormones can elevate blood pressure over time.
The director used silence to elevate the suspense in the final scene.
Similarincrease, raise
Oppositereduce, decrease, lower, diminish
4
verbtransitive
To give someone a more senior rank or position than they held before.
The board voted to elevate the deputy to chief executive.
Military leaders elevated the colonel to general after the campaign.
Similarpromote, exalt
Oppositedemote
Note
Promotion here usually takes to plus the new rank. Mary Wollstonecraft writes of men elevated to the supreme dignity, Catch-22 of mediocre people elevated to positions of authority, and a history of the papacy of nephews elevated to cardinal status. Aphra Behn's "so highly Elevated" shows the habit of grading it with highly. Promote is the plainer office word, and demote is the opposite of both.
5
verbtransitive
To grant honor or noble rank to someone.
The monarch elevated the general to a duke after the victory.
The church moved to elevate the bishop to cardinal.
Similarhonor, ennoble, exalt
Oppositedemote, degrade
6
verbtransitive
To lead someone's mind or thoughts toward things of greater worth.
Great art can elevate the mind beyond everyday concerns.
Meditation elevates the thoughts toward calmer, nobler aims.
Similarlift, raise, uplift, ennoble, exalt
7
verbtransitive
To temporarily grant a program additional security privileges so it can perform a restricted action.
Administrators can elevate a process to access kernel-level resources.
The installer asked the operating system to elevate its privileges before writing to the directory.
Similarpromote
Oppositedemote
Note
Computing borrowed the promotion metaphor for software. A program, not a person, is raised in rank for one privileged task. The verb is often passive, with the program as its subject: all programs that modify the registry need to be elevated. It pairs naturally with privileges, as when an installer elevates its privileges. The sense extends the promotion meaning, not the physical one.

8
verbdatedtransitive
To make a sound, most often one's own voice, louder.
The preacher elevated his voice to reach the back of the hall.
“We’ll see to that,” Wolf Larsen answered, and elevated his voice in a call of “Cooky!”
1904, Jack London, The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library)
Similarraise, increase
Oppositelower, reduce, decrease
Note
Voices were once elevated where today they are raised. In Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749), an uncle elevated his voice so as to be heard downstairs, and Jack London still writes it in The Sea-Wolf (1904). In plain modern speech, raise does this job, and elevate sounds bookish or mock-formal. It is the voice-specific branch of the "increase in degree" meaning.
9
verbdatedhumoroustransitive
To make someone mildly intoxicated, or pleasantly tipsy.
Two glasses of sherry were enough to elevate the old colonel into song.
[Johnson,] from drinking only water, supposed every body who drank wine to be elevated
1791, James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson
Note
A dated, jocular euphemism for the first glow of drink, used mostly in the participle elevated. George Colman and Bonnell Thornton's The Connoisseur (1755) sets the two states side by side: the same wine that stupefied Steele only elevated Addison. Boswell uses it too, and so does Walter Scott, with his elevated Cavaliers in Peveril of the Peak. It means merry, not drunk, and today it suits only humorous, period-flavored writing.
10
verbobsoletetransitive
To lift someone's spirits and make a person feel cheerful and hopeful.
Sweet music did much to elevate the grieving widow in her sorrow.
The chaplain's gentle words elevated the weary soldiers before the march.
Similarelate
Oppositedepress, sadden
Note
Cheering someone up was once a job for this verb, as in Milton's Paradise Lost: "Hope elevates, and joy / Bright'ns his Crest." In 1759, Adam Smith writes of someone "too much elevated, as we call it," marking it as a turn of phrase. The sense is obsolete, so use elate or cheer up instead. With a person as its object, elevate now suggests promotion or the tipsy meaning.
11
verbobsolete
To attempt to make something appear less important or noteworthy than it is.
Similardisparage, lessen, detract
Note
Here the word runs against itself: this obsolete Latinism means to make light of something. Jeremy Taylor's Ductor Dubitantium (1660) pairs it with lessen, describing physicians who "endevour to elevate and lessen the thing," and the pairing makes the direction plain. Do not use it this way now, because modern readers will hear the opposite meaning. Lessen, detract and disparage carry the sense today.
12
adjectiveobsolete
Raised aloft; lifted to a higher position.
Others apart sat on a Hill retir’d, In thoughts more elevate,
1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost
Note
Middle English had elevate as an adjective meaning high, and the same form served as the verb's past participle. French élevé is its cognate. It compared with more and most, as in Milton's "In thoughts more elevate," and Edward Hall's The Union of the Two Noble Families (1548) has a cross three times devoutly elevate. The form is now obsolete, and elevated is the living word.

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–11

This verb comes from Middle English elevaten ("to raise up, elate, inflate"), which goes back to Latin ēlevātus, from ēlevō ("to raise, lift up"). That word is built from ē- ("out") plus levō ("to make light, to lift"), from levis ("light"); compare levity and lever.

Meaning 12

This form comes from Middle English elevat(e) ("high in position, rank, or altitude," also used as the past participle of elevaten), formed with the adjective suffix -ate; see Etymology 1 for more. It is cognate with French élevé.