increase

verb

OPAL WOPAL S

/ɪnˈkriːs/

[intransitive, transitive]

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they increase	/ɪnˈkriːs/ /ɪnˈkriːs/
he / she / it increases	/ɪnˈkriːsɪz/ /ɪnˈkriːsɪz/
past simple increased	/ɪnˈkriːst/ /ɪnˈkriːst/
past participle increased	/ɪnˈkriːst/ /ɪnˈkriːst/
-ing form increasing	/ɪnˈkriːsɪŋ/ /ɪnˈkriːsɪŋ/

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to become greater in amount, number, value, etc.; to make something greater in amount, number, value, etc.
- Costs have increased significantly.
- to iincrease dramatically/substantially
- The price of oil increased.
- increase in something Oil increased in price.
- increase by something The rate of inflation increased by 2 per cent.
- increase from A to B The population has increased from 1.2 million to 1.8 million.
- increase with something Disability increases with age (= the older somebody is, the more likely they are to be disabled).
- increase something Sun exposure may increase the risk of skin cancer.
- Our aim is to increase the number of women in the sport.
- The company plans to significantly increase product availability over the next year.
- increase something by something They've increased the price by 50 per cent.
- increase something from A to B Last month the reward was increased from $20 000 to $40 000.
- An increasing number of people live alone.
- increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere
opposite decrease
Language Bank illustrate
illustrateReferring to a chart, graph or table
- This bar chart illustrates how many journeys people made on public transport over a three-month period.
- This table compares bus, train, and taxi use between April and June.
- The results are shown in the chart below.
- In this pie chart, the survey results are broken down by age.
- This pie chart breaks down the survey results by age.
- As can be seen from these results, younger people use buses more than older people.
- According to these figures, bus travel accounts for 60% of public transport use.
- From the data in the above graph, it is apparent that buses are the most widely used form of public transport.
Extra Examples
- Demand is expected to increase over the next decade.
- Sales increased almost fourfold in this period.
- The budget has increased by more than a third in the last year.
- We need to increase productivity.
- Progressively increase the intensity of the exercise over three weeks.
- You can increase or decrease the font size.
Topics Change, cause and effecta2, Moneya2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- considerably
- dramatically
- drastically
- …
verb + increase
- be expected to
- be likely to
preposition
- by
- from
- in
- …
See full entry
Word OriginMiddle English (formerly also as encrease): from Old French encreistre, from Latin increscere, from in- ‘into’ + crescere ‘grow’.

increase

noun

OPAL WOPAL S

/ˈɪŋkriːs/

[countable, uncountable]

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a rise in the amount, number or value of something
- price/tax/wage increases
- Profits show a steady increase.
- increase in something Last year the business saw a 3% increase in turnover.
- a substantial increase in the number of products on the market
- There has been a significant increase in oil prices.
- The tax has resulted in a dramatic increase in rents.
- increase of something an increase of 2p in the pound on income tax
- increase on something The figure is a ten-fold increase on the earlier amount.
- increase of something on something This is an increase of 12% on the previous year.
- increase over something This represents a 14% increase over last year.
- increase from something They report a massive increase from last year.
- on the increase Homelessness is on the increase (= increasing).
- The rate of increase is accelerating.
Language Bank increase
increaseDescribing an increase
- Student numbers in English language schools in this country increased from 66 000 in 2018 to just over 84 000 in 2019.
- The number of students increased by almost 30 per cent compared with the previous year.
- Student numbers shot up/increased dramatically in 2019.
- The proportion of Spanish students rose sharply from 5 per cent in 2018 to 14 per cent in 2019.
- There was a significant rise in student numbers in 2019.
- The 2019 figure was 84 000, an increase of 28 per cent on the previous year.
- The 2019 figure was 84 000, 28 per cent up on the previous year.
- As the chart shows, this can partly be explained by a dramatic increase in students from Spain.
language bank at expect, fall, illustrate, proportion
opposite decrease
More Like This Pronunciation changes by part of speech
Pronunciation changes by part of speech
- abuse
- alternate
- advocate
- approximate
- contract
- converse
- convict
- decrease
- delegate
- discount
- duplicate
- estimate
- export
- extract
- graduate
- import
- intimate
- moderate
- object
- permit
- present
- protest
- record
- refund
- refuse
- subject
- suspect
- survey
- torment
- upgrade
Extra Examples
- An increase in demand leads to an increase in price.
- Sales of beef have experienced double-digit increases.
- Some companies are predicting price increases of 30 per cent or more.
- Intensive farming has brought about an increase in outbreaks of food poisoning.
- Many parts of the country have experienced an increase in unemployment.
- Their reputation has improved, bringing a corresponding increase in revenues.
- The war resulted in a massive increase in government spending.
- There has been an increase in demand for two-bedroom flats.
- This year saw an increase in the number of job applicants.
- The average increase in value last year was 4.3 per cent.
- The company reported a 9.5 per cent increase in third quarter losses.
- We achieved a small increase in profits of £3 257.
- You would expect to observe an increase in births during peacetime.
- The country is enjoying the biggest increase in business confidence for years.
- The government has announced a modest increase in welfare benefits.
- The figures show a sharp increase on last year's turnover.
Topics Change, cause and effecta2, Moneya2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- big
- considerable
- dramatic
- …
verb + increase
- demonstrate
- experience
- see
- …
increase + verb
- occur
preposition
- on the increase
- increase in
- increase on
- …
phrases
- a rate of increase
See full entry
Word OriginMiddle English (formerly also as encrease): from Old French encreistre, from Latin increscere, from in- ‘into’ + crescere ‘grow’.