"heightens" in the verb sense
1. heighten, rise
become more extreme
"The tension heightened"
2. heighten
make more extreme raise in quantity, degree, or intensity
"heightened interest"
3. enhance, heighten, raise
increase
"This will enhance your enjoyment"
"heighten the tension"
4. heighten
increase the height of
"The athletes kept jumping over the steadily heightened bars"
5. sharpen, heighten
make (one's senses) more acute
"This drug will sharpen your vision"
6. intensify, compound, heighten, deepen
make more intense, stronger, or more marked
"The efforts were intensified"
"Her rudeness intensified his dislike for her"
"Pot smokers claim it heightens their awareness"
"This event only deepened my convictions"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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