augment Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb enlarge or increase
    • The recent speech of the president augmented tensions in the Near East
  2. verb grow or intensify
    • The pressure augmented

WordNet

Aug*ment" transitive verb
Etymology
L. augmentare, fr. augmentum an increase, fr. augere to increase; perh. akin to Gr. , , E. wax, v., and eke, v.: cf. F. augmenter.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Augmented; present participle & verbal noun Augmenting
Definitions
  1. To enlarge or increase in size, amount, or degree; to swell; to make bigger; as, to augment an army by reëforcements; rain augments a stream; impatience augments an evil.
    But their spite still serves His glory to augment. Milton.
  2. (Gram.) To add an augment to.
Aug*ment" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To increase; to grow larger, stronger, or more intense; as, a stream augments by rain.
Aug"ment noun
Etymology
L. augmentum: cf. F. augment.
Definitions
  1. Enlargement by addition; increase.
  2. (Gram.) A vowel prefixed, or a lengthening of the initial vowel, to mark past time, as in Greek and Sanskrit verbs. ✍ In Greek, the syllabic augment is a prefixed , forming an intial syllable; the temporal augment is an increase of the quantity (time) of an initial vowel, as by changing to .

Webster 1913