use-icon

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.

Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.

guide to the dictionary

use-icon

THE USAGE PANEL

The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.

The Panelists

open-icon

AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP

The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.

scroll-icon

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG

The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.

100-words-icon

See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series!

Find out more!

open-icon

INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?

Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com

raise (rāz)
Share:
v. raised, rais·ing, rais·es
v.tr.
1. To move to a higher position; elevate: raised the loads with a crane. See Synonyms at lift.
2. To set in an upright or erect position: raise a flagpole.
3. To erect or build: raise a new building.
4. To cause to arise, appear, or exist: The slap raised a welt.
5. To increase in size, quantity, or worth: raise an employee's salary.
6. To increase in intensity, degree, strength, or pitch: raised his voice.
7. To improve in rank or dignity; promote: raised her to management level.
8.
a. To grow, especially in quantity; cultivate: raise corn and soybeans.
b. To breed and care for to maturity: raise cattle.
c. To bring up; rear: raise children.
d. To accustom to something from an early age: "a post-World War II generation raised on shopping malls and multiplex cinemas" (Gustav Niebuhr).
9. To put forward for consideration: raised an important question. See Synonyms at broach1.
10. To voice; utter: raise a shout.
11.
a. To awaken; arouse: noise that would raise the dead.
b. To stir up; instigate: raise a revolt.
c. To bring about; provoke: remarks intended to raise a laugh.
12. To make contact with by radio: couldn't raise the control tower after midnight.
13. To gather together; collect: raise money from the neighbors for a charity.
14. To cause (dough) to puff up.
15. To end (a siege) by withdrawing troops or forcing the enemy troops to withdraw.
16. To remove or withdraw (an order).
17. Games
a. To increase (a poker bet).
b. To bet more than (a preceding bettor in poker).
c. To increase the bid of (one's bridge partner).
18. Nautical To bring into sight by approaching nearer: raised the Cape.
19. To alter and increase fraudulently the written value of (a check, for example).
20. To cough up (phlegm).
21. Scots To make angry; enrage.
v.intr.
Games
To increase a poker bet or a bridge bid.
n.
1. The act of raising or increasing.
2. An increase in salary.
Idioms:
raise Cain/the devil/hell
1. To behave in a rowdy or disruptive fashion.
2. To reprimand someone angrily.
raise eyebrows
To cause surprise or mild disapproval.
raise the stakes
To increase one's commitment or involvement.
[Middle English raisen, from Old Norse reisa; see er-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
raiser n.
Usage Note: A traditional usage rule holds that people raise crops and farm animals but rear children. Nonetheless, people have been raising children in English since the 1700s, and the usage has been standard for many generations, at least in American English. The Usage Panelists find the use of raise acceptable both for children and for livestock. The Panelists also approve of using the verb rear for children, but a sizable minority have reservations about using it for livestock. In our 2013 survey, 41 percent disapproved of the sentence The settlers reared cattle in the Valley before it was flooded. This percentage, though still substantial, is a significant decrease from the 60 percent who disapproved of the same sentence in 2002. Although contemporary usage allows writers to raise both children and livestock, careful writers should rear children only.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

American Heritage Dictionary Products