inflated
Americanadjective
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distended with air or gas; swollen.
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puffed up, as with pride.
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turgid or bombastic.
his inflated prose.
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unduly increased in level.
inflated costs.
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Economics. unduly expanded in amount, value, or size; characterized by inflation.
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Botany. hollow and enlarged or swelled out.
inflated perianth.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inflated
Explanation
If it's puffed up and overrated, it's probably inflated — a simple adjective that means blown out of proportion or exaggerated. Think of a balloon. You blow and blow, and it gets bigger and bigger. Sometimes if you blow too much it takes on a distorted shape, or even explodes. Now use that same imagery, but swap the balloon for someone's ego or the price of U2 concert tickets. Both personalities and prices can get inflated beyond reasonableness — the personalities with pretentious hot air and the prices with unnecessary cost.
Vocabulary lists containing inflated
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.
Feldstein Soto noted the city’s payouts were inflated by a “cascade of horrible” cases that were pending when she took office.
From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2026
They also misled investors, charged undisclosed fees and arbitrarily inflated prices charged to investors in StraightPath funds, according to the Justice Department.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026
"People have found ways to manipulate the system to be able to book thousands of driving tests themselves to then be able to resell on for a massively high inflated fee," she adds.
From BBC • May 16, 2026
In that event, of course, AI’s track record will be artificially inflated by what statisticians refer to as “hindsight bias.”
From MarketWatch • May 8, 2026
My ego wonders if all his and Coach’s talk about how good he is might just be inflated hype, but there’s something deep down inside me that knows Boy21’s still holding back.
From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick
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.
