enrich

Alternative forms

• inrich (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English enrichen, from Anglo-Norman enrichir and Old French enrichier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈɹɪt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɪtʃ

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Verb

enrich (third-person singular simple present enriches, present participle enriching, simple past and past participle enriched)

1. (transitive) To enhance.
2. (transitive) To make (someone or something) rich or richer. [from 14th c.]

   Hobbies enrich lives.

   The choke in a car engine enriches the fuel mixture.

   Synonym: endow

   Antonyms: impoverish, lean, derich, disenrich

3. (transitive) To adorn, ornate more richly. [from 17th c.]
4. (transitive) To add nutrients or fertilizer to the soil; to fertilize. [from 17th c.]
   • 2013 January, Nancy Langston, “The Fraught History of a Watery World”, in American Scientist‎, volume 101, number 1, archived from the original on 22 January 2013, page 59:

     European adventurers found themselves within a watery world, a tapestry of streams, channels, wetlands, lakes and lush riparian meadows enriched by floodwaters from the Mississippi River.

   Antonym: impoverish

5. (physics, transitive) To increase the amount of one isotope in a mixture of isotopes, especially in a nuclear fuel. [from 20th c.]

   Antonym: deplete

   Antonym: downblend

6. (transitive) To add nutrients to foodstuffs; to fortify.
7. (chemistry) To make to rise the proportion of a given constituent.

References

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Enrich”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume III (D–E), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 198, column 2.

Anagrams

• Rhenic, incher, nicher, rhenic, richen