inflate
verb (used with object)
to distend; swell or puff out; dilate.
was inflating
-
past progressiveof inflate.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Dr. Ferrucci left IBM a year after the “Jeopardy!” win, at a time the company’s Watson marketing campaign was inflating expectations for the technology.
From New York Times ● Aug. 28, 2022
His breath had quickened so much that his mask was inflating and deflating like a balloon.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 28, 2022
It also addressed long-held industry questions of whether Ozy was inflating its audience size.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 1, 2021
For Shelton, it was a seeming reversal from her earlier views that “quantitative easing” amounted to an inappropriate Fed intervention in markets that was inflating stock prices but doing little for the economy.
From Reuters ● Feb. 13, 2020
As I sat there one of them was inflating my faked memberships into meanings of national significance.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
