Height'en or Hight'en, v. t.

(hīt'n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. HEIGHTENED, HIGHTENED; p. pr. & vb. n. HEIGHTENING, HIGHTENING.] Hight'en

1. To make high; to raise higher; to elevate.
2. To carry forward; to make better in excellence or good qualities; to advance; to increase; as, to heighten virtue; to heighten the beauties of description, or of poetry.
3. To advance toward a worse state; to augment in violence; to intensify.

Foreign states used their endeavors to heighten our confusion. Addison. 4. To set off to advantage, by means of contrast; to make brighter, more intense, or prominent. To heighten a tint, is to make it lighter and more prominent by means of touches of light opaque color placed upon it. Fairholt.