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
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.
Troop commitments in the Middle East magnify the importance of Tokyo’s increasing military muscle in Asia.
From Barron's • May 14, 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
And don’t forget Berkshire’s special sauce: A pile of permanent capital that it can magnify with its insurance float.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
Nevertheless, many parents so magnify the benefit of a car seat that they trek to the local police station or firehouse to have it installed just right.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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.
