Sweeten

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Rhymes with -iːtən

From sweet + -en. Eclipsed non-native Middle English doucen and endoucen, borrowed from Old French adoucir and endoucir (“to sweeten”).

transitive To make sweet to the taste. to sweeten tea
transitive To make (more) pleasant or to the mind or feelings. to sweeten life
transitive To make mild or kind; to soften. to sweeten the temper
transitive To make less painful or laborious; to relieve. to sweeten the cares of life
transitive To soften to the eye; to make delicate. Correggio has made his memory immortal by the strength he has given to his figures, and by sweetening his lights and shadows, and melting them into each other.
transitive To make pure and healthful by destroying noxious matter. to sweeten the air
transitive To make warm and fertile. to dry and sweeten soils
transitive To raise the pH of (a soil) by adding alkali. [T]hey had prepared the garden carefully, plowing and sweetening the dirt with fireplace ashes and manure from the barn[.]
transitive To restore to purity; to free from taint. to sweeten water, butter, or meat
transitive To make more attractive; said of offers in negotiations. to sweeten the deal by increasing the price offered
intransitive To become sweet.
transitive To supplement (a composition) with additional instruments, especially strings. In most popular music the bowed strings usually play long, sustained, sweeping parts, and are sometimes added to a vocal track later in a process known as sweetening.