amplify
Americanverb (used with object)
-
amplifies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
amplified,
past participle, past
-
amplifying
present participle
-
to make larger, greater, or stronger; enlarge; extend.
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to expand in stating or describing, as by details or illustrations; clarify by expanding.
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Electricity. to increase the amplitude of; cause amplification in.
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Archaic. to exaggerate.
verb (used without object)
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amplifies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
amplified,
past participle, past
-
amplifying
present participle
verb
-
(tr) to increase in size, extent, effect, etc, as by the addition of extra material; augment; enlarge; expand
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electronics to produce amplification of (electrical signals); increase the amplitude of (signals)
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(tr) to exaggerate
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(intr) to expand or enlarge a speech, narrative, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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amplifysimple
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amplifiessimple
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have amplifiedperfect
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has amplifiedperfect
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am amplifyingprogressive
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are amplifyingprogressive
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is amplifyingprogressive
-
have been amplifyingperfect progressive
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has been amplifyingperfect progressive
Past
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amplifiedsimple
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had amplifiedperfect
-
was amplifyingprogressive
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were amplifyingprogressive
-
had been amplifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of amplify
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English amplifyen, from Middle French amplifier, from Latin amplificāre “to increase, augment”; equivalent to ample + -ify
Explanation
The verb amplify means to crank up the volume. Speakers amplify, or raise, the volume of the noise coming through a microphone so that everyone at the rock show can hear. Amplify comes from the Old French word amplifier meaning "to enlarge or expand." It refers to making a sound “expand,” but it can also crank up something like a disagreement — if you spread rumors, you might amplify an argument. It can “enlarge” an idea — if you don't realize how bad your health is, your doctor might amplify your test results by explaining them to you in simple, and possibly frightening terms.
Vocabulary lists containing amplify
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
These vectors amplify market dislocations as multiple participants simultaneously unwind positions.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
I just want you to amplify how important it is when you slam the courthouse doors, whether it’s preemption or standing, in environment-land, that’s it.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
This combination of activities "may have interacted to amplify the compound event," the study said.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
But the central bank also warned that flightier investors such as hedge funds could amplify market stress in times of crisis, especially if they ditch bonds rapidly to unwind big bets made with borrowed money.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
She asks again, her hands cupped around her mouth to amplify her voice.
From "The Sky at Our Feet" by Nadia Hashimi
"The Earth-ionosphere cavity acts as a natural resonator that amplifies electromagnetic waves right around the mass range we wanted to probe."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026
His intentional balance of silence and audio amplifies one of the movie’s most famous moments, Adenoid Hynkel’s gibberish speech, into a bombastic, hilarious aural onslaught.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2026
“Workers see the headlines, hear about their friends. Crucially they hear about workers having incredibly hard times getting back into jobs, which amplifies the risk of being laid off,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
The Rumbler interacts with a standard police siren, which generates around 110 to 120 decibels, and amplifies that sound through its speakers in eight-second intervals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Bobby Ryan amplifies her point: “We’re not typical theater kids, and we don’t want to be typical theater kids.”
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
The latest selloff was amplified by the sudden unwind of risky hedge-fund trades that had grown popular in recent months.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Banuelos said he did not think he needed a professional photography permit as the videographer was a family member and they did not use amplified sound or temporary structures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
The incidents have amplified calls to slow AI development, most notably from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who wrote last month that he feared swarms of agents "taking over the entire internet."
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
Xiang believes two forces have amplified this anxiety - the property market and the higher education system.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
In Darwin's scheme, the rate of change of an organism was generally fixed, while the rate of natural selection could be amplified to accelerate evolution or dampened to decelerate it.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
She will be remembered for amplifying the voices of women in a way that mainstream media at the time either could not, or would not.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Some advanced economies’ growth prospects look subdued anyway, amplifying investor unease about lending to governments when inflation is quickening.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
“AI is amplifying the value of our entire platform,” Robin Washington, chief financial and chief operating officer at Salesforce, told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
Kairi’s scenes are often accompanied by the powerful score from composer Yoko Shimomura, amplifying the emotion that has driven the games’ fanbase for more than two decades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
The entire greenhouse hummed with power, amplifying his until he was a one-man climate-change phenomenon.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
