increases

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of increase.

   Demand for housing increases sharply every spring.

   Regular exercise increases a person's stamina over time.

   Note

   This form works with or without an object. Demand increases on its own, while exercise increases stamina by acting on something else. Older uses survive at the edges: a flock increases by bearing young, and a moon increases toward full, where wax would also serve. With a plural subject, or after I and you, the bare form increase returns.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of increase.

   Successive tax increases strained household budgets across the region.

   Analysts attributed the gains to steady increases in consumer spending.

   Note

   The plural belongs to the countable uses of the noun: separate rises, each an amount, as in tax increases or increases in spending, where in introduces what grew. Knitters use it as well, for stitches added to a row. The same spelling serves the verb's present-tense form, so in price increases worry buyers, only worry tells you increases is the noun.

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