Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use strengthen in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Strengthen means to make strong or stronger; to add strength to; to increase the strength of; to fortify. Example: “The reinforcing wire has to be wrapped in tension to be effective in strengthening the main part.”

Examples of strengthen by meaning

verbTo make strong or stronger; to add strength to; to increase the strength of; to fortify.

  • strengthen a muscle
  • strengthen a wall
  • strengthen one's willpower

verbTo empower; to give moral strength to; to encourage; to enhearten.

  • He is strengthening his forces now against Mr.1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
  • A review of addiction research, published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, suggests mindful meditation strengthens self-control in smokers, even among those smokers who haven’t set an intention to quit.2015 July 31, Liza Lucas, “How to beat smoking, other bad habits with better self-control”, in CNN

verbTo reinforce, to add to, to support (someone or something).

  • strengthen an army
  • Each half-section of the battery weighs about eight tons, and the two underframes had to be strengthened to take this weight.1958 June, “First Battery Railcars on B.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 419
  • In 2019, Trump signed the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education (FUTURE) Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at strengthening HBCUs as well as other minority-serving institutions by providing $255 million annually.2024 July 1, Chandelis Duster, “Biden and Trump touted what they’ve done for HBCUs at CNN’s debate. Here’s what their records show”, in CNN

verbTo substantiate; to corroborate (a belief, argument, etc.).

  • strengthen the cause

verbTo grow strong or stronger.

  • But wise or foolish, there it is, strengthening with the years whether I will or no1914, Elizabeth Robins Pennell, Our Philadelphia

More sentences with strengthen

  • The reinforcing wire has to be wrapped in tension to be effective in strengthening the main part.From the entry reinforcing
  • His commitment to remaining a flat-earther seems to be strengthened by counterarguments rather than weakened by them.From the entry flat-earther
  • Susan's doing sit-ups to strengthen her muscles.From the entry sit-up
  • The experience annealed them, strengthening their resolve.From the entry anneal
  • The district attorney was able to strengthen his case against the bank robber by flipping the getaway driver.From the entry flip
  • The neo-liberal reforms after the fall of the Soeharto regime in Indonesia sustainedly strengthened the big business groups.From the entry sustainedly
  • The thesis is that to improve further the lines of defence against financial instability we should strengthen the macroprudential orientation of the regulatory and supervisory framework.From the entry macroprudential
  • It will promote their growth, strengthen bones, purify blood and aid in the digestive process.2016, Dr. S.K. Sharma, Food for Good Health, Diamond Pocket Books Pvt Ltd, →ISBN. From the entry haldi
  • Strengthening these aspects would also free law teaching from too detailist knowledge.2015, Carel Stolker, Rethinking the Law School: Education, Research, Outreach and Governance, →ISBN. From the entry detailist
  • Herbs that tonify deficiencies strengthen or supplement the body's resistance against disease.2014, Stevenson Xutian, Shusheng Tai, Chun-Su Yuan, Handbook of Traditional Chinese Medicine, →ISBN, page 676. From the entry tonify
  • We carried out the pilot of “transferring some power to strengthen towns”.2013 October 21, “武汉市2013年政府工作报告 [Report on the Work of the Government Delivered at the Second Session of the Thirteenth Wuhan Municipal…. From the entry Zhashan
  • Have faith and may the Great Mother strengthen our arms and fortify our minds.”2013, J. K. Barber (Jay and Katherine Barber), Spellbound, 3rd edition, →ISBN, page 26. From the entry swordmistress
  • It's also important to strengthen what we call the bus factor of your project.2012, Brian W. Fitzpatrick, Ben Collins-Sussman, Team Geek: A Software Developer's Guide to Working Well with Others, O'Reilly Media…. From the entry bus factor
  • True babbits are tin-base alloys strengthened by the presence of antimony and copper, and occasionally containing lead.2012, David F. Tver, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Industrial Technology. From the entry babbit
  • The 45th Division was dispatched to Haizhou to strengthen the defense line of Northern Jiangsu.2006, Robert K. Wen, chapter 5, in Dream of Spring and Autumn: A Novel (Fiction), New York; Lincoln; Shanghai: iUniverse, →ISBN, →OCLC…. From the entry Lianyun'gang
  • One group is the hemicelluloses, which form strengthening cross-links between celluloses.2004, Harold McGee, chapter 5, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, Scribner, →ISBN. From the entry hemicellulose
  • A key feature of this unified networks strategy was strengthening the company's datacoms capability, hence the acquisition.2001, Michael Armstrong, Duncan Brown, New dimensions in pay management, page 155. From the entry datacoms
  • By withdrawing our awareness from negative impressions, pratyahara strengthens the mind's powers of immunity.1999, David Frawley, Yoga and Ayurveda, page 262. From the entry pratyahara
  • In response, Vietnam also announced its intention to strengthen its military presence in the South China Sea.1998, Bilveer Singh, “China, the South China Sea and the Security of Post-Cold War Southeast Asia”, in Frank Columbus, editor, Asian…. From the entry Truong Sa
  • Indeed, sociobiology has a certain synergy with biotheology, and some of its less controversial concepts strengthen biotheology.1996, Michael Cavanaugh, “Sin and Morality”, in Biotheology: A New Synthesis of Science and Religion, Lanham, Md.: University Press of…. From the entry biotheology
  • The fact that many panwomen are middle class and employed has strengthened these perceptions.1995, Stephen Stuempfle, The Steelband Movement, →ISBN. From the entry panwoman
  • Strengthened by this alliance, Nerio then decided to move decisively against the Duchy of Athens.1987, John Van Antwerp Fine Jr., “The Late Medieval Balkans”, in Paperback, University of Michigan Press, published 1994, page 404. From the entry Duchy of Athens
  • This would strengthen the firebreak between the use of conventional and nuclear weapons.1984, Dietrich Schroeer, Science, Technology and the Nuclear Arms Race, page 293. From the entry firebreak
  • Our Party has strengthened its political and ideological leadership over them in good time.1978 [1954 November 10], Propaganda Department of the Suiyang County Party Committee, “Political Work in the Co-operatives”, in General…. From the entry co-op
  • Adder stones strengthened their owners in legal disputes and helped them get access to kings.1963, Archie Carr, The Reptiles, New York, N.Y.: Time-Life Books, →OCLC, page 149. From the entry adder stone
  • This involved new track drainage, strengthening of embankments and cuttings and the provision of counterforts.1957 March, “The Shenfield-Southend Electrification”, in Railway Magazine, pages 157-158. From the entry counterfort
  • The whole strengthening movement goes back to the run on 50s two-ply yarn to go into tricotines.1921, Fibre & Fabric. From the entry tricotine
  • Green himself was reactionary, a preëmptioner who wanted strengthening of these laws alone.1917, Gertrude S. Mathews, James T. DuBois, Galusha A. Grow, Father of the Homestead Law, page 210. From the entry preëmptioner
  • Descriptive instruction therefore encourages and strengthens the grouped masses of ideas in the child-mind.1916, Richard David Chalke, A Syntheses of Froebel and Haerbart, page 118. From the entry child-mind
  • The two eastern arches have been underbuilt for the sake of strengthening them.1900, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Yorkshire archaeological journal: Volume 15. From the entry underbuild

Meaning of strengthen

  1. verb To make strong or stronger; to add strength to; to increase the strength of; to fortify.
  2. verb To empower; to give moral strength to; to encourage; to enhearten.
  3. verb To augment; to improve; to intensify.

Full definition of strengthen

Questions about strengthen in a sentence

How do you use strengthen in a sentence?
Strengthen is used as a verb. For example: “The reinforcing wire has to be wrapped in tension to be effective in strengthening the main part.”
What is a short sentence with strengthen?
“strengthen a muscle”
What does strengthen mean?
Strengthen means to make strong or stronger; to add strength to; to increase the strength of; to fortify.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: strengthen (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use strengthen in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/strengthen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.