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
- magnifiable adjective
- overmagnify verb (used with object)
- remagnify verb (used with object)
- unmagnified adjective
- unmagnifying adjective
Etymology
Origin of magnify
1350–1400; Middle English magnifien < Latin magnificāre. See magni-, -fy
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.
Charles Edwards, who directed and designed this nominally traditional production, tried to solve that problem by keeping to the story’s original 17th-century period and magnifying its political background.
But to do that and have everything you say, your mistakes magnified, seems overwhelming.
From Los Angeles Times
It’s a year-round phenomenon, but it gets magnified around the holidays when we attend more social gatherings.
"As car usage grows and the city expands, it magnifies a lot of the challenges we face and increases the number of times we have to invest just to stand still."
From BBC
The hit from First Brands had a magnified effect on Great Elm stock because the company has borrowed about $200 million to boost returns.
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.
