17 synonyms, and when to use each

You can only strengthen something that was weak, so a bullet built on "strengthened" has to say what the weakness was. Tightened, rebuilt, stabilized and cross-trained each point at a specific weak spot — controls, a relationship, the finances, a team's skills — and make the before and after easy to show. Without that, "strengthened compliance" is a claim with no baseline.

When you improved relationships with clients or partners: synonyms for strengthened

  • Deepened

    Existing relationships that grew into more business.

  • Rebuilt

    Relationships that had gone bad.

  • Repaired

    One specific broken relationship or account.

  • Won back

    Lost customers, donors or partners; give the count.

  • Solidified

    Informal arrangements turned into lasting agreements.

What people write

Strengthened relationships with key accounts.

What gets read

Won back 6 bar and restaurant accounts from a competitor in 8 months by moving them to twice-weekly delivery, worth $140K a year in orders.

When you made controls or security harder to break: synonyms for strengthened

  • Tightened

    Controls, access rights or approval limits.

  • Hardened

    Systems and devices; the standard term in IT security.

  • Reinforced

    Existing processes made more dependable.

  • Shored up

    A weak point fixed before it failed.

What people write

Strengthened financial controls.

What gets read

Tightened expense approval limits for a 300-person company; out-of-policy claims fell from 9% to 2% in two quarters.

When you made a team more capable: synonyms for strengthened

  • Upskilled

    Training that added a named skill.

  • Trained

    The plain word; give the number of people and the skill.

  • Cross-trained

    People taught to cover each other's roles.

  • Built up

    Capacity or bench strength grown over time.

What people write

Strengthened the front desk team's skills.

What gets read

Cross-trained 8 front-desk staff on night audit, ending agency cover for sick nights and saving $1,900 in the first quarter.

When you improved the finances: synonyms for strengthened

  • Stabilized

    Cash flow, revenue or staffing after a rough patch.

  • Bolstered

    Reserves, margins or coverage made larger.

  • Restored

    Back to a previous healthy level, such as margins.

  • Replenished

    Reserves or stock rebuilt after being drawn down.

What people write

Strengthened the theater's finances.

What gets read

Stabilized cash flow at a 40-person nonprofit theater by moving to monthly memberships; reserves went from 3 weeks of costs to 4 months over two seasons.

Leave these in the thesaurus

"Fortified" and "Invigorated" sound more like breakfast cereal than work.

The one thing to remember

When the thing you strengthened is a relationship, replace the verb with the commercial result — repeat orders, renewals, referrals — because that is the only evidence the relationship got stronger.

Other words you might be repeating

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