Meaning of increase in English

increase

verb [ I or T ]

/ɪnˈkriːs/ uk

/ɪnˈkriːs/

Add to word list Add to word list

to become larger in amount or size, or to make something do this:

Incidents of armed robbery have increased over the last few years.

increase dramatically The cost of the project has increased dramatically since it began.

increase significantly Tourism to Antarctica has increased significantly in the past decade.

We need to increase public awareness of the diesease.

increase something to something Gradually increase the temperature to the boiling point.

increasing number Increasing numbers of students are interested in online classes

These problems are occurring with increasing frequency.

Increased efforts are being made to end the dispute.

Compare

decrease verb

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to increase

increaseWe need to increase production to meet demand.
growThe number of people living alone grows each year.
risePrices rose by 10 percent.
go upHouse prices keep going up.
escalateCrime in the city has escalated in recent weeks.

See more results »

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to become smaller or less

decreaseThe tests show that the tumor has decreased in size since we started treatment.
increaseI've been increasing my workouts by five minutes a day.
lessenA healthy diet lessens your risk for cardiovascular disease.
lowerThey've just lowered the age at which you can join.
reduceThey've just reduced the price.
bring downThey are bringing down their prices.

See more results »

More examplesFewer examples

Studies show that if a working environment is pleasant, productivity increases.
Students do find that their workload increases throughout the course.
Our main aim is to increase sales by 12% this year.
Life expectancy in Europe has increased greatly in the 20th century.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Increasing and intensifying

See more results »

increase

noun [ C or U ]

/ˈɪn.kriːs/ uk

/ˈɪn.kriːs/

a rise in the amount or size of something:

price increase Recent price increases are costing the average household $150 a month.

tax increase Congress has approved a package of tax increases.

increase of There were 39,000 new cases last year - an increase of six percent.

increase in Any increase in production would be helpful.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

an increase

increaseThere has been an sharp increase in municipal taxes this year.
riseLast month saw a rise in the rate of inflation.
gainWe are not seeing the gains in productivity that we expected.
boostWe are hoping for a boost in sales this year.

See more results »

on the increase

increasing:

Homelessness is on the increase in many cities.

More examplesFewer examples

The tax increase will add 4 cents to a gallon of gas.
I've managed to negotiate a five percent pay increase with my boss.
The Opposition has condemned the government's proposed tax increases.
Some people blame television for the increase in crime.
An increase in average temperature by only a few degrees could cause environmental problems worldwide.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Increasing and intensifying

See more results »

(Definition of increase from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

increase | Intermediate English

increase

verb [ I/T ]

/ɪnˈkris, ˈɪn·kris/

Add to word list Add to word list

to become or make something larger or greater:

[ T ] They’ve increased the price of gas by two cents a gallon.

[ I ] Pressure is increasing to make health insurance more widely available.

increase

noun [ C/U ]

/ˈɪn·kris/

the act of becoming larger or greater or of making something larger or greater:

[ C ] There was a slight increase in unemployment last month.

Homelessness is on the increase (= increasing) in many cities.

(Definition of increase from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

increase | Business English

increase

verb [ I or T ]

/ɪnˈkriːs/ us

Add to word list Add to word list

to become larger in amount or size, or to make something do this:

increase by sth Sales have increased by 10%.

increase to sth Our gross margin increased to 24%.

increase in price/size/value Over the past two years the department has increased in size.

the number/rate/level increases Staffing numbers increase during the summer months.

increase gradually/slowly/steadily Bookings are increasing steadily.

Interest rates have increased slightly.

increase dramatically/rapidly/significantly The volume of work has increased dramatically.

increase efficiency/production/productivity The new measures are intended to increase efficiency.

to increase costs/prices/sales

This process greatly increases manufacturing speeds.

increasing

adjective

An increasing number of customers shop online.

increasingly

adverb

Borrowers are becoming increasingly aware of their options, and tend to shop around.

increase

noun [ C or U ]

/ˈɪnkriːs/ us

a situation in which the number, size, or amount of something gets bigger:

a pay/price/tax increase Customers stocked up, anticipating a January price increase.

an increase in sth Businesses are facing a 12% increase in energy costs.

an increase of sth Revenue last year was $347 million, an increase of 26%.

a dramatic/significant/substantial increase

a small/slight/steady increase

See also

rise noun

on the increase

increasing:

Credit card fraud is on the increase.

(Definition of increase from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of increase

increase

That's a 77 percent increase over the five years beginning in 2010.

From The Atlantic

By 1998, that number had increased to 95,000.

From Huffington Post

The country has seen a 52% of increases in cases in just the past three weeks.

From CNN

This is a 40 percent increase from the number of participants last year, with plenty of time still available for people to register.

From NJ.com

Those 85 and older are projected to increase from 5.8 million in 2010 to 8.7 million in 2030.

From USA TODAY

His team found that the proportion of strokes in younger adults (under 55) increased by about 7 percent over a 12-year period.

From Huffington Post

That's an increase of almost 2 percentage points from 1997 to 2008, or almost 2 million kids.

From NPR

The only thing this type of giving may increase is the likelihood of making a mess of both giving and receiving.

From Huffington Post

The price rise reflects an increase of more than 500 percent.

From Minneapolis Star Tribune

And then over time you increase that dose ever so slightly.

From NPR

The stock has increased 22 percent this year.

From Bloomberg

No raises, no increases, none of that stuff.

From Huffington Post

Where are we seeing this increase coming from?

From NPR

The company says its platform is a great way for brands to increase engagement.

From VentureBeat

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with increase

increase

These are words often used in combination with increase.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

across-the-board increase

This means that an across-the-board increase in farm output prices of 10 per cent would cause the stock of biomass to fall about 1.3 per cent in the long run.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

alarming increase

Consequently, there has been an alarming increase in the prevalence of nosocomial antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

annual increase

Respondents estimated that the annual increase in radiotherapy patient numbers was approximately 5%.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with increase

What is the pronunciation of increase?