/ɪnˈkɹisəz/
Say it backIncreases is a verb (or noun in certain contexts) meaning to becomes greater in size, amount, or degree. As a verb, it is third-person singular present tense: it increases. In everyday use, it often appears with adjectives or nouns describing growth, intensity, or frequency. The core idea is a rise or augmentation over time.
"Sales increases after the new campaign, signaling growing demand."
"The temperature increases gradually through the afternoon."
"Interest in the topic increases as more studies are published."
Break it into three syllables: in-CRE-ases. Stress falls on the second syllable: /ɪnˈkriːsɪz/. The initial /ɪ/ is a lax short vowel, the /ˈkriː/ contains a long e sound, and the final /ɪz/ is an unstressed syllable ending with a voiced z. Keep the /s/ smooth and voiced because the preceding vowel is voiced, resulting in /z/ at the end. Audio reference: imagine the rhythm of 'in-CRE-ases' with a clean secondary pause before the stressed syllable.
Two frequent errors: (1) misplacing the stress as in-IN-creases (/ɪnˈkriːsɪz/ but sometimes mis-specified to /ˈɪnkriːzɪz/). Keep stress on the second syllable: in-CRE-ases. (2) Devoicing the final /z/ to /s/ or mispronouncing the middle /iː/ as a short /ɪ/. Ensure the middle vowel is the long /iː/ and that the final consonant is the voiced /z/ when the preceding sound is voiced.
US and UK generally share /ɪnˈkriːsɪz/ with the same rhoticity pattern; AU tends toward a slightly different vowel quality in /ɪ/ and may have a broader, less clipped /ˈkriːs/ depending on speaker. The primary difference is vowel length and vowel quality; however, all three maintain the /z/ ending after a voiced context. Listen for a marginally longer /iː/ in UK and AU variants in careful speech.
The difficulty mainly lies in the tense/stress pattern and the final voiced /z/. You transition from the short /ɪ/ to a long /iː/ in /ˈkriː/ while maintaining a smooth onset and avoiding a brief 'ih-n' or 'in-cries-es' misdelivery. The final /z/ requires voicing and a seamless connection from /iː/ to /z/. Beginners often over-pronounce the final /s/ or drop the voiced /z/ entirely.
Yes. The word sometimes functions as a plural noun in contexts like 'the increases in tax revenue' or as a third-person singular verb 'it increases.' The pronunciation remains the same; the difference is in sentence stress and surrounding intonation. When used as a noun, you may see a slightly stronger pitch on the first syllable to cue the noun-phrase rhythm, but the pronunciation itself does not change.
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Increases comes from the verb increase, from the Old French augmenter, from Latin augmentare, meaning to increase or improve. The root aug- derives from Latin augere, to increase, which also appears in English words like augmentation and augment. The suffix -esece is not here; rather, -ases marks the third-person singular present tense in modern English spelling with the -s ending. The term first appears in Middle English as 'increasen' under influence of French, then standardized to 'increase' in Early Modern English, with the -s morphological variant in verbs. The sense of making more, or becoming greater, emerges in the 14th–15th centuries as commerce and statistics demanded expressions for growth. Over time, in pluralized or participial forms, 'increases' communicates both the act of growing and the amount of growth in contexts ranging from finance to populations.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "increases" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "increases" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "increases"
-ses sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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