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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

raise.

To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ɹeɪz/
  1. To cause to rise; to lift or elevate.

    physical
    to raise your hand if you want to say something; to raise your walking stick to defend yourself
    the flag was raised
  2. To cause to rise; to lift or elevate. To form by the accumulation of materials or constituent parts; to build up; to erect.

    physical
    to raise a wall, or a heap of stones
  3. To cause to rise; to lift or elevate. To cause something to come to the surface of water.

    physical
    The ship was raised ten years after it had sunk.
  4. To cause to rise; to lift or elevate. To cause (the land or any other object) to seem higher by drawing nearer to it.

    physical
    to raise Sandy Hook light
  5. To cause to rise; to lift or elevate. To make (bread, etc.) light, as by yeast or leaven.

    physical
  6. To cause to rise; to lift or elevate. To cause (a dead person) to live again; to resurrect.

    figuratively · physical
    The magic spell raised the dead from their graves!
  7. To cause to rise; to lift or elevate. To remove or break up (a blockade), either by withdrawing the ships or forces employed in enforcing it, or by driving them away or dispersing them.

    physical
  8. To cause to rise; to lift or elevate. To relinquish (a siege), or cause this to be done.

    physical · transitive
  9. To cause to rise; to lift or elevate. To emboss (sheet metal), or to form it into cup-shaped or hollow articles, by hammering, stamping, or spinning.

    physical · transitive
  10. To create, increase or develop.

    transitive
    We need to raise the motivation level in the company.
    to raise the quality of the products; to raise the price of goods; to raise (increase) taxes
  11. To create, increase or develop. To collect or amass.

    transitive
    to raise a lot of money for charity; to raise troops
  12. To create, increase or develop. To call up the forces of, to raise the troops from.

    obsolete · transitive
  13. To create, increase or develop. To bring up; to grow.

    transitive
    We visited a farm where they raise chickens.
    Chew with your mouth shut — were you raised in a barn?
  14. To create, increase or develop. To promote.

    transitive
    to raise somebody to office
  15. To create, increase or develop. To mention (a question, issue) for discussion.

    transitive
    A few important questions were raised after the attack.
  16. To create, increase or develop. To create; to constitute (a use, or a beneficial interest in property).

    transitive
    There should be some consideration (i.e., payment or exchange) to raise a use.
  17. To create, increase or develop. To bring into being; to produce; to cause to arise, come forth, or appear.

    transitive
    Starting in January we will raise (introduce) taxes on all tobacco substitutes and vaping accessories.
  18. To establish contact with (e.g., by telephone or radio).

    Despite all the call congestion, she was eventually able to raise the police.
  19. To respond to a bet by increasing the amount required to continue in the hand.

    intransitive
    John bet, and Julie raised, requiring John to put in more money.
  20. To exponentiate, to involute.

    Two raised to the fifth power equals 32.
  21. To extract (a subject or other verb argument) out of an inner clause.

    transitive
  22. To produce a vowel with the tongue positioned closer to the roof of the mouth.

    transitive
  23. To increase the nominal value of (a cheque, money order, etc.) by fraudulently changing the writing or printing in which the sum payable is specified.

  24. To instantiate and transmit (an exception, by throwing it, or an event).

    transitive
    A division by zero will raise an exception.
  25. To open, initiate.

    India · transitive
    I will raise a trouble-ticket in order to correct this reporting issue.
  26. Misspelling of raze.

    alt-of · misspelling
Where this word comes from

From Middle English reysen, raisen, reisen, from Old Norse reisa (“to raise”), from Proto-Germanic *raisijaną, *raizijaną (“to raise”), causative form of Proto-Germanic *rīsaną (“to rise”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey- (“to rise, arise”). According to Kroonen (2013), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to stir, rise”). Cognate with Old English rāsian (“to explore, examine, research”), Old English rīsan (“to seize, carry off”), Old English rǣran (“to raise”). Doublet of rear.

noun/ɹeɪz/
  1. Ellipsis of pay raise (“an increase in wages or salary”).

    US · abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis
    The boss gave me a raise.
  2. A shot in which the delivered stone bumps another stone forward.

  3. A bet that increases the previous bet.

  4. A shaft or a winze that is dug from below, for purposes such as ventilation, local extraction of ore, or exploration.

  5. A shoulder exercise in which the arms are elevated against resistance.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English reysen, raisen, reisen, from Old Norse reisa (“to raise”), from Proto-Germanic *raisijaną, *raizijaną (“to raise”), causative form of Proto-Germanic *rīsaną (“to rise”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rey- (“to rise, arise”). According to Kroonen (2013), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to stir, rise”). Cognate with Old English rāsian (“to explore, examine, research”), Old English rīsan (“to seize, carry off”), Old English rǣran (“to raise”). Doublet of rear.

noun/ɹeɪz/
  1. A cairn or pile of stones.

Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Old Norse hreysi; the spelling came about under the influence of the folk etymology that derived it from the verb.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.