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# thicken

verb (thicken, thickens, thickened, thickening)

«thicken» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To thicken is to become thicker, or to make something thicker. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thicken/#m1)
2. A liquid that thickens becomes less runny, like sauce or custard. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thicken/#m2)
3. Fog, smoke or a crowd that thickens becomes denser. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thicken/#m3)
4. «The plot thickens» means a story or situation becomes more mysterious and complicated. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thicken/#m4)

### In the lessons

In cooking and science lessons on materials: heating custard or adding flour thickens it. In geography, fog thickens. In stories, «the plot thickens» signals a new twist. In maths a line or a layer may thicken by a measured amount.

### Examples

- Stir the sauce until it thickens. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thicken/#x1)
- Add flour to thicken the soup. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thicken/#x2)
- The fog thickened and we could not see the road. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thicken/#x3)
- The crowd thickened near the stage. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thicken/#x4)
- The ice on the pond thickened during the cold night. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thicken/#x5)
- Then the missing key turned up in Ben's bag — the plot thickens! [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thicken/#x6)
- Trees thicken their trunks a little every year. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thicken/#x7)

### Note

Opposite: thin (out). Noun: thickness; adjective: thick. In cooking, a thickener is something added (flour, cornflour) to make a liquid thicker.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «thicken» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/thicken/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«thicken» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/thicken.html) on Mova free.