increase

Formsincreases, increasing, increased

Pluralincreases

1. 1
   get biggerverbtransitive or intransitive

   To become, or to make something, larger or greater in amount, number, size or degree.

   Global temperatures continue to increase year after year.

   Membership increased sharply after the campaign.

   UsageUse by for the difference (increased by 10%) and to for the new level (increased to 500).

   Similargrow, rise, raise, expand

   Note

   Often things grow by themselves, whether rage, waters or love. The King James Bible of 1611 has the waters increase and bear up the ark, and Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal (1729) still spells it encreaseth, a trace of Middle English encresen.

2. 2
   how much morenouncountable

   The amount by which a quantity becomes greater.

   Workers received a five percent increase in pay.

   The increase amounted to nearly a thousand dollars.

   UsageAn increase in the thing that grows (in pay), and of the amount: an increase of five percent.

   Similarrise, gain, increment

   Oppositedecrease, reduction, cut, drop

3. 3
   nouncountable

   The act or process of becoming larger.

   The increase in population has been steady for decades.

   Researchers tracked the increase carefully over several weeks.

   UsageOften an increase in something, and in the phrase on the increase, meaning growing: crime is on the increase.

   Similargrowth, rise, expansion, escalation

   Oppositedecrease, decline, reduction, fall

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