magnify
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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)
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
Space Science (Astronomy) - Introductory
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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:
As the black holes orbit each other, their immense gravity could repeatedly magnify the light from stars located behind them, creating recurring flashes that may reveal the hidden systems.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 5, 2026
While leverage can lead to exponential gains, critics warn it can also magnify losses.
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
Underscoring the popularity of the fund’s strategy amid the artificial-intelligence boom, another firm recently filed to launch a leveraged ETF designed to magnify the Roundhill Memory ETF’s daily performance.
From MarketWatch ● May 12, 2026
This pattern has helped to magnify the party's seat losses, which currently stand at 250 seats or half of all those it has been trying to defend.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
If you could magnify this Manhattan and if it were full of viruses, you would see little figures clustered like the lunch crowd on Fifth Avenue.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
When a massive object such as a neutron star passes in front of a more distant star, its gravity bends and magnifies the background star's light.
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2026
“The Tristan Project” — created by video artist Bill Viola, director Peter Sellars and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney in 2004 — magnifies the rituals of life and death.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026
When liquidity tightens, silver does not simply follow gold — it magnifies the move.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 30, 2026
As in all sports novels, climbing offers the characters a framework for living, and Mr. Tallent magnifies every aspect of its metaphoric potential.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
Some of them were very tall; many were dressed in white; and all had a sweeping amplitude of array that seemed to magnify their persons as a mist magnifies the moon.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
The physicality, contact area, movement is all magnified against a team like South Africa so we have to be at the races.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
He invests his savings in U.S. stocks, and the dizzying gains of the artificial-intelligence-driven run-up in stocks mean his returns have been magnified when converted back into yen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
When experiencing either emotion, everything — be it a piece of news, the prick of a finger, a conversation with a loved one living thousands of miles away — is magnified.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
But those losses can be equally magnified on the way down.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 8, 2026
Entering the Wood was like entering a vast cavern: The sound of her footsteps was magnified by the branches arching above.
From "Ash" by Malinda Lo
History isn’t a crystal ball, but certain historical moments become magnifying glasses, highlighting truths today’s political passions obscure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
Ternus was on the road at the supplier’s facility, and sometime after midnight he pulled out a magnifying glass to count the circles, finding that the supplier had gotten it wrong, putting in 35 grooves.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
Do you really think that foreign governments are at this point, with a magnifying glass, looking at our markets and thinking something might be about to happen?
From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2026
However, let me whip out my beige trench coat and magnifying glass as I tell you: My investigation did uncover some interesting questions about the origins of this salmon.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2026
Up above, clouds will billow out of nowhere into dark monstrosities, pregnant with malevolent intent, and a clear blue sky is like a magnifying glass for a punishing sun.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
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.
