magnify
Americanverb (used with object)
-
magnifies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
magnified,
past participle, past
-
magnifying
present participle
-
to increase the apparent size of, as a lens does.
- Antonyms:
- reduce
-
to make greater in actual size; enlarge.
to magnify a drawing in preparing for a fresco.
- Antonyms:
- reduce
-
to cause to seem greater or more important; attribute too much importance to; exaggerate.
to magnify one's difficulties.
- Synonyms:
- overstate
- Antonyms:
- minimize
-
to make more exciting; intensify; dramatize; heighten.
The playwright magnified the conflict to get her point across.
-
Archaic. to extol; praise.
to magnify the Lord.
verb (used without object)
-
magnifies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
magnified,
past participle, past
-
magnifying
present participle
verb
-
to increase, cause to increase, or be increased in apparent size, as through the action of a lens, microscope, etc
-
to exaggerate or become exaggerated in importance
don't magnify your troubles
-
rare (tr) to increase in actual size
-
archaic (tr) to glorify
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
overmagnifyverb (used with object)
-
remagnifyverb (used with object)
-
magnifiableadjective
-
unmagnifiedadjective
-
unmagnifyingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
magnifysimple
-
magnifiessimple
-
have magnifiedperfect
-
has magnifiedperfect
-
am magnifyingprogressive
-
are magnifyingprogressive
-
is magnifyingprogressive
-
have been magnifyingperfect progressive
-
has been magnifyingperfect progressive
Past
-
magnifiedsimple
-
had magnifiedperfect
-
was magnifyingprogressive
-
were magnifyingprogressive
-
had been magnifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of magnify
1350–1400; Middle English magnifien < Latin magnificāre. See magni-, -fy
Explanation
To magnify is to make something bigger, whether in size or in significance. A magnifying glass makes things look bigger and when anything is magnified, it gets larger in some way. If your hunger is magnified, you've gotten hungrier. Wearing a heavy coat on a hot day will magnify the heat: you're feeling hotter and hotter. Also, non-physical things get magnified. The press could magnify a story by discussing it over and over, making it a bigger story than it was originally. All types of magnifying make things bigger.
Vocabulary lists containing magnify
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That's Great!: Magn
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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:
"There is nothing that blood testing can do that would magically take those worries away - it would only potentially magnify them," Jones said.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Nvidia’s financing and supply-chain moves might help it grow faster now, but magnify its risk longer term.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Such swings in the company’s shares make for a particularly bumpy ride for leveraged ETFs that magnify the rise and fall in SpaceX shares on any given day.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
The stock also is destined to join the exchange-traded funds that use options to magnify daily stock price changes.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
She blinks up at us through glasses that magnify her eyes.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
Leverage works great when asset prices rise, but concentrating a large share of your wealth in a single, illiquid, undiversified asset also magnifies downside risk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
In these events, the gravity of a foreground star and any accompanying planets magnifies the light of a more distant background star, briefly making it appear brighter.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 1, 2026
The S&P 500 is weighted by market capitalization, which magnifies the effect of this year’s gains for some of its largest companies.
From MarketWatch ● May 20, 2026
The prospect of fame magnifies pathologies that have been intensifying over time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2025
“She has put so much energy into this place that it’s practically glowing with it. It magnifies everything that’s alive. I think I’ll be able to feel when you need me.”
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
His arguments were strong, and he delivered them with courage, clarity and a disarming good humor that was magnified by his directing them at ideas, not people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Dressed in a camouflage bomber jacket, his eyes continued to linger on the magnified view of the downtown skyline as he spoke.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
Conversely, declines in valuations of mortgage-backed securities are magnified when interest rates are rising.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
For someone like Ariana Grande, who has millions of eyes on her at all times, the potential for harm is astronomically magnified.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
Little things—a cricket on a stem, the veined branches on a leaf—are magnified, brought from the background in achingly clear focus.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Now, physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, have brought that same principle to electron microscopy, a technology capable of magnifying objects roughly 10,000 times more than conventional light microscopes.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026
Investors are abandoning French government bonds for quality in German Bunds, which is magnifying the spread of the two wider.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
"I think we're going to be the first ones under the magnifying glass being looked at," Acaster said over suspicions one will be a traitor.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
When you look at films like that under a magnifying glass, they tend to fall apart.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
Every now and then, she held the globe close, peering through her magnifying glass at portions of it.
From "March Forward, Girl" by Melba Pattillo Beals
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
