heaten
/ˈhiːtən/
heaten verb: to increase in heat; make or become hotter. Also the past participle of heat.
Verb
heaten (third-person singular simple present heatens, present participle heatening, simple past and past participle heatened)
- To increase in heat; make or become hotter
- In 1958, when the debate heatened, an elderly gentleman of excellent reputation stepped regally into a Senate hearing room in Washington prepared to testify against statehood for Alaska.1993, James A. Michener, Alaska
- Feeling it, the man's cheeks heatened like those of the accosted youngster amidst the hanging coats and paired-up galoshes.2007, David Russell, Dreality: A Story about Returning Home, page 353
Also used as
heaten is also the past participle of heat.
Forms of heaten
| third-person singular present | heatens |
|---|---|
| present participle | heatening |
| past participle | heatened |
| past | heatened |
| alternative form (dialectal) | hetten |
Origin of heaten
From heat + -en.
Probably formed on the analogy of beat:beat:beaten by speakers who use heat or het for the simple past of heat (“to make hot”).
Words that rhyme with heaten
Questions about heaten
- What does heaten mean?
- Heaten means to increase in heat; make or become hotter.
- What part of speech is heaten?
- Heaten is a verb.
- How do you pronounce heaten?
- Heaten is pronounced /ˈhiːtən/.
- What is the past tense of heaten?
- The past tense of heaten is heatened.
Words near heaten in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: heaten (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “heaten.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heaten. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.