Word Confusion: Raise versus Rise

Posted September 10, 2019 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

I became curious about the difference between raise and rise when I was researching the earlier post “Rose versus Rows, and I had to go exploring.

What I’ve discovered is that the difference between the two is primarily in the verb form:

Raise is almost always transitive; raising something is causing it to rise
- Using raise as an intransitive is nonstandard
Rise is almost always intransitive

	Raise	Rise
Intransitive	Nonstandard: Dough raises better when the temperature is warm.	Standard: Dough rises better when the temperature is warm.
Intransitive	Nonstandard: The elevator was raising.	Standard: The elevator was rising.
Transitive	Standard: If we want to raise money for our favorite charity, we’ll need more support.	Nonstandard: If we want to rise money for our favorite charity, we’ll need more support.
Transitive	Standard: We’re raising the barn today.	Nonstandard: We’re rising the barn today.

So, essentially, raise and rise mean the same thing, but for that verb form; raise is a verb with an object and rise is a verb without an object. As a writer, understanding the difference can be used to bring a character to life.

Oh, and salary-wise? Americans get a raise while the British get a rise.

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Exploring Later . . .

You may also want to explore the post “Raise vs Rays vs Raze“.

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Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

If you found this post on “Raise versus Rise” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

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Raise	Rise
Raise Your Hand as High as You Can by Justin Brockie from Wolcott, Connecticut, USA, is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.	Garan Sunrise is courtesy of NASA and is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Part of Grammar:
Noun; Verb, transitive Plural for the noun: raises Gerund: raising Third person present verb: raises Past tense or past participle: raised Present participle: raising	Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: rises Gerund: rising Third person present verb: rises Past tense: rose Past participle: risen Present participle: rising
Noun: An increase in salary [In poker or brag] An increase in a stake [Bridge] A higher bid in the suit that one’s partner has bid [Weightlifting; usually with an adjective] An act of lifting or raising a part of the body while holding a weight Verb, transitive: Lift or move to a higher position or level Lift or move to a vertical position Set upright Construct or build a structure Cause to rise or form Bring to the surface (something that has sunk) Cause bread to rise, especially by the action of yeast Make a (nap) on cloth Increase the amount, level, or strength of Promote someone to a higher rank [Linguistics, usually as a noun; raising] Move an element from a lower structure to a higher one [Mathematics; raise something to] Multiply a quantity by itself to a specified power [In poker or brag] Bet (a specified amount) more than another player [Bridge] Make a higher bid in the same suit as that bid by one’s partner Increase a bid in this way Cause to be heard, considered, or discussed Cause to occur, appear, or be felt Generate (an invoice or other document) Collect, levy, or bring together (money or resources) Bring up a child Breed or grow animals or plants Bring someone back from death Abandon or force an enemy to abandon a siege, blockade, or embargo Drive an animal from its lair [Figurative] Cause a ghost or spirit to appear [British; informal] Establish contact with someone, especially by telephone or radio [Of someone at sea] Come in sight of land or another ship [Immunology] Stimulate production of an antiserum, antibody, or other biologically active substance against the appropriate target cell or substance	Noun: An upward movement An instance of becoming higher An act of a fish moving to the surface to take a fly or bait An instance of social, commercial, or political advancement An upward slope or hill The vertical height of a step, arch, or incline A vertical section between the treads of a staircase An increase in amount, extent, size, or number [British] An increase in salary or wages An increase in sound or pitch [In singular] A source or origin [Clothing] The distance between the crotch and waistband in pants, shorts, or underwear Occasion or opportunity Verb, intransitive: Move from a lower position to a higher one Come or go up [Of the sun, moon, or another celestial body] Appear above the horizon [Of a fish] Come to the surface of water Reach a higher position in society or one’s profession [rise above] Succeed in not being limited or constrained by (a restrictive environment or situation) [rise above] Be superior to Get up from lying, sitting, or kneeling Get out of bed, especially in the morning [Chiefly British; of a meeting or a session of a court] Adjourn Be restored to life Cease to be submissive, obedient, or peaceful [rise to] Find the strength or ability to respond adequately to (a challenging situation) [Of a person; rise to] React with annoyance or argument to (provocation) [Of a river] Have its source [Of a wind] Start to blow or to blow more strongly [Of land or a feature following the contours of the land] Incline upward Become higher [Of a building, mountain, or other high object or structure] Be much taller than the surrounding landscape [Of someone’s hair] Stand on end [Of a building] Undergo construction from the foundations [Of dough] Swell by the action of yeast [Of a bump, blister, or weal] Appear as a swelling on the skin [Of a person’s stomach] Become nauseated Increase in number, size, amount, or quality [Of the sea, a river, or other body of water] Increase in height to a particular level, typically through tidal action or flooding [Of a sound] Become louder Be audible above other sounds [Of a barometer or other measuring instrument] Give a higher reading [Of a voice] Become higher in pitch [Of an emotion] Develop and become more intense [Of a person’s mood] Become more cheerful [Of the color in a person’s face] Become deeper, especially as a result of embarrassment [rising] Approaching (a specified age) Verb, transitive: [Nonstandard] To cause to rise [Nautical] To cause (something) to rise above the visible horizon by approaching nearer to it Raise [rise above] To ignore and overcome, as adversity
Examples:
Noun: I got that raise, hon. Now do fifteen leg raises. I had nothing invested so far but jacks were a fair hand, worth calling a raise; or so I thought. Verb, transitive: The conductor raised his arms to begin. The English flag was raised over Calais. With Ma’s help, we raised him up in bed. That’s it! We’re gonna raise a fence and keep them goats out! The long line of cars raised a huge cloud of dust. We raised doughnuts using Grandma’s recipe. He raised the cup to his lips. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. Business failures are rising. The protest is intended to raise awareness of human trafficking. Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a king over Israel. Any number raised to the zero power (except 0) equals 1. I’ll raise you another fifty bucks. Fire! Fire! Raise the alarm! The terrorist attacks are raising doubts over whether Homeland Security is capable of doing its job. I hate to raise your hopes up, Sara. We’re hoping the marathon will raise $50,000. Born in Florida, Missouri, Samuel Clemens was raised in Hannibal. The filter is then probed with antibodies raised against a particular protein. They raised cows for their meat. The medium actually raised our father’s ghost. The dogs raised over fifty quail this afternoon. The publication of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe in 1719 stimulated the rise of the novel. Later that afternoon, I heard another climber raising his partners farther down the mountain on his two-way radio. He raised the U.S. Coast Guard on VHF radio but was unable to provide his coordinates.	Noun: The bird has a display flight of steep flapping rises. Ian put the bag down and watched Justin lying there, nervously checking the rise and fall of his chest. Fly fishing was carried out from boats and bank during the evening rise. Few models have had such a meteoric rise. It’s over the next rise. The ideal stair rise is three inches. I love the tile effect on the rise. The local people are worried by the rise in crime. Non-supervisory staff were given a 5 percent rise. The score anticipated Schoenberg’s technique in “Gurrelieder” and “Pierrot Lunaire”, indicating the rises and falls of the voice with relative pitches. It was here that the brook had its rise. With that last comment, he finally got a rise out of her. Pant rise determines where your pants sit on your body, which in turn creates your perceived waistline. The facts gave rise to doubts about her motives. Verb, intransitive: The tiny aircraft rose from the ground. The sun had just risen. A fish rose and was hooked and landed. The officer was a man of great courage who had risen from the ranks. He struggled to rise above his humble background. I try to rise above prejudice. She pushed back her chair and rose. I rose and got dressed. The judge’s remark heralded the signal for the court to rise. Your sister has risen from the dead. He would rise again from the dead on the third day. The activists urged militant factions to rise up. Many participants in the race had never sailed before, but they rose to the challenge. He didn’t rise to my teasing. The Euphrates rises in Turkey. The wind continued to rise. The moorlands rise and fall in gentle folds. The cliff rose more than a hundred feet above us. He felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck. Rows of two-story houses are slowly rising. Leave the dough in a warm place to rise. Blisters rose on his burned hand. Fabio’s stomach rose at the foul bedding. Land prices had risen quickly. The river level rose so high the work had to be abandoned. We were swept up in a rising tide of crime. Her voice rose above the clamor. The barometer is rising, so it should be a good day for a picnic. My voice rose an octave or two as I screamed. He felt a tide of resentment rising in him. Her spirits rose as they left the ugly city behind. He was teasing her, and she could feel her color rising. She was thirty-nine rising forty. Polly shall have a young mare rising three years old. Verb, transitive: The dogs will rise the pheasants. A strong surge caused the ship to rise into view. She rose up from the circumstances of her birth.
Derivatives:
Adjective: nonraisable, nonraiseable, raisable, raiseable Noun: raiser, raising	Adjective: high-rise, low-rise, unrisen Noun: half-rise Verb: arise, rerise, rerisen, rerising, rerose
Phrasal Verb
	rise to rise to something rise to the bait rise to the challenge rise to the occasion rise up
History of the Word:
Middle English from the Old Norse reisa.	Old English rīsan meaning make an attack, wake, get out of bed, is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch rijzen and the German reisen.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

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