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Enhance vs Enchant - What's the difference?

enhance | enchant |

As verbs the difference between enhance and enchant

is that enhance is to lift, raise up while enchant is to attract and delight, to charm.

enhance

English

Alternative forms

* inhance * enhaunce * inhaunce

Verb

(enhanc)
  • (obsolete) To lift, raise up.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.i:
    • nought aghast, his mightie hand enhaunst : / The stroke down from her head vnto her shoulder glaunst.
    (Wyclif Bible)
  • To augment or make something greater.
  • * Southey
    • The reputation of ferocity enhanced the value of their services, in making them feared as well as hated.
  • * 2000 , Mordecai Roshwald, Liberty: Its Meaning and Scope , page 155
    • A hereditary monarch relies on pomp and ceremony, which enhance the respect for the institution
  • To improve something by adding features.
  • * 1986 , Maggie Righetti, Knitting in Plain English , page 192
    • A pom-pom to top off a stocking cap, a fringe to feather the edge of a shawl, tassels to define the points of an afghan, these are just a few of the delightful little goodies that enhance handknit things.
  • To be raised up; to grow larger.
    • A debt enhances rapidly by compound interest.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    enchant

    English

    Alternative forms

    * enchaunt (obsolete) * inchant (obsolete) * inchaunt (obsolete)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To attract and delight, to charm.
  • * 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/nyregion/new-jersey-continues-to-cope-with-hurricane-sandy.html?hp]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):
    • New Jersey was reeling on Wednesday from the impact of Hurricane Sandy, which has caused catastrophic flooding here in Hoboken and in other New York City suburbs, destroyed entire neighborhoods across the state and wiped out iconic boardwalks in shore towns that had enchanted generations of vacationgoers.
  • To cast a spell over.
  • * 2009 , Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary , Paizo Publishing, ISBN 978-1-60125-183-1, page 241
    • With the aid of his eponymous pipes, a satyr is capable of weaving a wide variety of melodic spells designed to enchant others and bring them in line with his capricious desires.

    Derived terms

    * enchanted * enchanter * enchanting * enchantment * enchantress