Language gets lazy. We’re all guilty of it. You’re sitting in a boardroom or staring at a slide deck, and you just want to say things are going up. So, you use the same word everyone else uses. You say "increase." It’s safe. It’s functional. It’s also incredibly boring.
If you keep saying other words for increase are hard to find, you’re basically admitting your vocabulary has hit a ceiling. Honestly, the word "increase" is the beige paint of the corporate world. It covers the wall, sure, but it doesn’t make anyone stop and look. When a CEO says "we saw an increase in revenue," it sounds like a computer generated the report. But when they say "revenue surged," people actually perk up.
Precision matters. A 2% bump isn't a "surge." A 50% explosion isn't just an "increase." Using the wrong word actually masks the reality of what’s happening in your business or your writing. It’s about nuance.
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Why Your Vocabulary is Killing Your Impact
Most people lean on "increase" because they’re afraid of sounding unprofessional. They think big, fancy words are for novelists, not for quarterly earnings calls. That’s a mistake.
Think about the difference between proliferate and escalate. If you tell me your costs are "proliferating," I’m picturing them spreading out like a weed in a garden—lots of small, annoying expenses everywhere. But if you tell me costs are "escalating," I’m picturing a mechanical movement upward, something steady and perhaps unstoppable. Those are two very different problems that require two very different solutions.
Steve Pinker, a cognitive scientist at Harvard, talks a lot about "The Sense of Style." He argues that clear, forceful writing comes from using concrete verbs. "Increase" is an abstract concept. "Balloon" is a visual. When you say your budget is "ballooning," everyone in the room knows exactly what that looks like. It’s round, it’s under pressure, and it might pop.
Breaking Down Other Words for Increase by Context
Context is everything. You wouldn't use the same word for a rising tide that you’d use for a stock price or a fever. You’ve got to match the "vibe" of the data.
When Things Move Fast
Sometimes, things don't just go up; they go up with a rocket strapped to them. In these moments, "increase" is an insult to the data.
Skyrocket is the classic. It’s a bit cliché, but it works because it implies a vertical trajectory. Surge is better for power or liquid—think of an electrical surge or a storm surge. It’s forceful. Then you’ve got bolt or shoot up. These are quick. If a tech startup’s user base grows from 100 to 10,000 in a weekend, that’s a spike. A spike is sharp. It’s often temporary, too, which is an important nuance. If you call a temporary jump a "growth trend," you’re lying to your investors.
The Slow Burn
What if the change is gradual? You’re looking for other words for increase that imply patience.
Accrue is a great one, especially for money or interest. It feels inevitable. Mount works well for pressure or evidence. "Evidence is mounting" sounds way more ominous than "evidence is increasing." If you’re talking about building something brick by brick, use augment. It sounds sophisticated. It suggests you’re adding to something that’s already good to make it better. It’s a purposeful action.
Wax is a fun one, though a bit old-school. We use it for the moon, but you can use it for influence or power. "His influence began to wax as the election drew near." It feels poetic but grounded.
The Negative Upward Trend
Not all increases are good. If your debt is going up, you don't want to use a "happy" word like "bloom."
Escalate is the king of bad news. Conflicts escalate. Tensions escalate. Prices escalate. It implies a loss of control. Inflate is another one. It’s not just getting bigger; it’s getting puffed up with air. It suggests the value isn't real. If your ego is "increasing," you might just be getting more confident. If it’s "swelling," you’re probably becoming a jerk.
The Technical Side: Stealing from Science and Math
If you want to sound like an expert, look at how scientists describe growth. They don't just say things got bigger. They use specific terms that describe the way things changed.
- Exponentially: This is the most misused word in the English language. People use it to mean "a lot." Don't do that. Exponential growth means the rate of growth becomes more rapid in proportion to the growing total or size. If you use this word incorrectly around a data scientist, they will stop listening to you.
- Proportional: This means things are moving in lockstep with something else.
- Compound: This is the "eighth wonder of the world," according to a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein. It’s when your increases start increasing on their own.
Why Synonyms Matter for SEO and Discover
Google’s algorithms, especially with the 2024 and 2025 updates, have moved far beyond simple keyword matching. The "helpful content" era is about Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) and entities. Basically, Google knows that if you're talking about growth, you should also be using words like upturn, expansion, and appreciation.
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If you write an article and use the word "increase" 50 times, Google’s AI is going to flag it as low-quality or "thin" content. It looks like it was written by a bot—or worse, a very bored human. By varying your vocabulary, you’re signaling to search engines that you have a deep, authoritative understanding of the topic. You’re providing "information gain," which is a fancy way of saying you’re actually adding something new to the internet instead of just recycling the same old phrases.
Practical Examples: Before and After
Let’s look at how this works in the real world. Honestly, it’s kinda transformative once you see it.
The Boring Version: "We saw an increase in web traffic after the campaign. This led to an increase in leads and an eventual increase in sales."
The Professional Version:
"Web traffic surged following the campaign launch. This boosted our lead generation, which ultimately drove a significant uptick in total sales."
The second version has energy. It tells a story. "Surged" implies the campaign worked immediately. "Boosted" suggests a lift. "Drove" implies cause and effect. "Uptick" is a nice, grounded way to describe the final result without overpromising.
The Boring Version:
"The temperature increased throughout the afternoon."
The Better Version:
"The temperature climbed steadily as the afternoon wore on."
"Climbed" makes the heat feel like an effort. You can almost feel the sun beating down. That’s the power of picking the right synonym.
The Pitfalls of "Thesaurus Breath"
We’ve all met that person. The one who uses "myriad" when they mean "a lot" or "utilize" when they mean "use."
Using other words for increase shouldn't make you sound like you’re trying too hard. If you swap "increase" for "aggrandize" in a casual conversation, you're going to look like a tool. "Aggrandize" is specifically about making something seem greater than it actually is, often in a political or social context. You don't aggrandize your grocery list.
The goal isn't to find the biggest word. It’s to find the truest word.
Actionable Steps for Better Writing
If you want to stop relying on "increase," you need a system. You can't just memorize a list and hope for the best.
- Identify the "Why": Before you write the word, ask yourself how the thing is growing. Is it fast? Slow? Natural? Forced?
- Audit your drafts: Use the "Find" function (Cmd+F or Ctrl+F) to see how many times you used "increase." If it’s more than twice in 500 words, start swapping.
- Read more fiction: Business books are notorious for "corporate-speak." If you want a better vocabulary, read people like Cormac McCarthy or Zadie Smith. They know how to describe change without ever touching a boring verb.
- Use a visual thesaurus: Sometimes seeing the words grouped by "warmth" or "intensity" helps you pick the right one.
- Think in metaphors: If the growth was like a flood, use "inundated." If it was like a fire, use "blazed" or "spread."
Take Control of Your Narrative
Using other words for increase isn't about being fancy. It’s about being clear. When you choose a specific word, you’re giving your reader more information. You’re telling them about the speed, the scale, and the emotion behind the data.
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Start by picking three go-to alternatives for different scenarios. Pick one for "fast growth" (like surge), one for "steady growth" (like climb), and one for "bad growth" (like escalate). Use those for a week. See how your emails and reports change. You'll notice people pay a little more attention. You'll sound less like an AI and more like a human who actually understands what they’re talking about.
Next time you're tempted to type that eight-letter word, pause. Is it an increase, or is it an explosion? Is it an increase, or is it a maturation? The difference between a "good" writer and a "great" one usually lives in that half-second of thought.
Go through your most recent report or blog post. Highlight every instance of the word "increase" or "increased." For each one, determine if the movement was sudden, gradual, or forced, then replace at least half of them with a more descriptive verb like ballooned, crescendoed, or upticked to see how much more life the text has.