English
elevate
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˈɛləveɪt/
Verb

elevate (elevates, present participle elevating; past and past participle elevated)

  1. (transitive) To raise (something) to a higher position.
    Synonyms: lift, raise
    Antonyms: drop, lower
    The doctor told me elevating my legs would help reduce the swelling.
    • 1534, William Marshall (translator) and George Joye, A Prymer in Englyshe, London: William Marshall,
      The Grace or Blessynge of the table to be sayed of chyldren standynge before it, thyr handes eleuated and ioyned to gyder
    • circa 1610 William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, Act V, Scene 2,
      She had one eye declined for the loss of her husband, another elevated that the oracle was fulfilled:
    • 1750, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 25, 12 June, 1750, Volume 1, London: J. Payne and J. Bouquet, 1752, p. 216,
      We know that a few strokes of the axe will lop a cedar; but what arts of cultivation can elevate a shrub?
    • 1896, Joseph Conrad, An Outcast of the Islands, London: T. Fisher Unwin, Part 2, Chapter 5, p. 138,
      Abdulla expressed his surprise by elevating his eyebrows.
  2. (transitive) To promote (someone) to a higher rank.
    Synonyms: exalt, promote
    Antonyms: demote
    • 1682, Aphra Behn, The Roundheads or, The Good Old Cause, London: D. Brown et al., Act I, Scene 1, p. 6,
      Hard Fate of Greatness, We so highly Elevated
      Are more expos’d to Censure than the little ones,
    • 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, London: J. Johnson, Part 1, Chapter 1, p. 24,
      Nothing can set the regal character in a more contemptible point of view, than the various crimes that have elevated men to the supreme dignity.
    • 1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22, New York: Dell, Chapter 29, p. 334,
      […] that’s the way things go when you elevate mediocre people to positions of authority.
    • 2014, A. D. Wright, The Early Modern Papacy
      Much has also been made recently of the distorting effects exerted on the administration of Urban VIII by the interests of the Barberini nephews, especially of the two elevated to cardinal status.
    • 2014, Guy W. Lecky-Thompson, Inside SharePoint 2007 Administration (page 55)
      At that point, you have to elevate the account's rights, activate the feature, and then demote the account again.
  3. (transitive) To confer honor or nobility on (someone).
    Synonyms: ennoble, exalt, honor
    • 1591, Edmund Spenser, “Virgils Gnat” in Complaints, London: William Ponsonbie,
      That none, whom fortune freely doth aduaunce,
      Himselfe therefore to heauen should eleuate:
      For loftie type of honour through the glaunce
      Of enuies dart, is downe in dust prostrate;
  4. (transitive) To make (something or someone) more worthy or of greater value.
    A talented chef can elevate everyday ingredients into gourmet delights.
    • 1682, John Dryden, The Medal, Edinburgh, “Epistle to the Whigs,”
      […] if you encourage a young Beginner, who knows but he may elevate his stile a little,
    • 1768, William Gilpin, An Essay upon Prints, London: J. Robson, Chapter 1, p. 33,
      He is the true artist, who copies nature; but, where he finds her mean, elevates her from his own ideas of beauty.
    • 1850, Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, Volume 2, Chapter 4, p. 60,
      You can’t think how it elevates him in my opinion, to know for certain that he’s really conscientious!
  5. (transitive) To direct (the mind, thoughts, etc.) toward more worthy things.
    • 1665, Robert Boyle, Occasional Reflections upon Several Subjects, London: Henry Herringman, Section 4, Chapter 4, pp. 73-74,
      […] the devout Christian improves the Blessings he receives of this inferiour World, to elevate his mind above it:
    • 1999, Ahdaf Soueif, The Map of Love, New York: Anchor Books, 2000, Chapter 18,
      On the whole I would regard serious art as a means to elevate the emotions and educate the spirit […]
  6. (transitive) To increase the intensity or degree of (something).
    Synonyms: increase, raise
    Antonyms: decrease, diminish, lower, reduce
    Some drugs have the side effect of elevating your blood sugar level.
    1. (dated) To increase the loudness of (a sound, especially one's voice).
      • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, London: A. Millar, Volume 5, Book 14, Chapter 10, p. 191,
        […] the Uncle had more than once elevated his Voice, so as to be heard down Stairs;
      • 1904, Jack London, The Sea-Wolf, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Chapter 3, p. 20,
        “We’ll see to that,” Wolf Larsen answered, and elevated his voice in a call of “Cooky!”
  7. (transitive, obsolete) To lift the spirits of (someone)
    Synonyms: cheer up, elate
    Antonyms: depress, sadden
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 8, lines 633-634,
      […] Hope elevates, and joy
      Bright’ns his Crest,
    • 1759, Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Edinburgh: A. Kincaid and J. Bell, Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 1, p. 20,
      It gives us the spleen […] to see another too happy or too much elevated, as we call it, with any little piece of good fortune.
  8. (dated, colloquial, humorous) To intoxicate in a slight degree; to make (someone) tipsy.
    • 1755, George Colman the Elder and Bonnell Thornton, The Connoisseur (newspaper), No. 91, 23 October, 1755, Volume 2, London: R. Baldwin, 1756, p. 557,
      Richard Steele entertained them till he was tipsy; when the same wine that stupified him, only served to elevate Joseph Addison, who took up the ball just as Steele dropt it, and kept it up for the rest of the evening.
    • 1791, James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: Charles Dilly, Volume 2, 1778,
      [Johnson,] from drinking only water, supposed every body who drank wine to be elevated
    • 1822, Walter Scott, Peveril of the Peak, Edinburgh: Archibald, Constable, Volume 1, Chapter 3, p. 92,
      […] the elevated Cavaliers […] sent to Roger Raine of the Peveril Arms […] for two tubs of merry stingo
  9. (obsolete, Latinism) To attempt to make (something) seem less important, remarkable, etc.
    Synonyms: lessen, detract, disparage
    • 1660, Jeremy Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium, London: Richard Royston, Volume 1, Chapter 4, Rule 2, p. 126,
      […] the Arabian Physicians […] endevour to elevate and lessen the thing [i.e. belief in the virgin birth of Jesus], by saying, It is not wholly beyond the force of nature, that a Virgin should conceive […]
Related terms Translations Translations Adjective

elevate

  1. (obsolete) Elevated; raised aloft.
    • 1548, Edward Hall, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke, London: Richard Grafton, Henry VII, year 6,
      The sayde crosse was .iii. tymes deuoutly eleuate, and at euery exaltacion, ye Moores beyng within the cytie, roared, howled and cryed,
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2, lines 567-578,
      Others apart sat on a Hill retir’d,
      In thoughts more elevate,


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