Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To increase the scope of; extend.
- v. To make greater in power, influence, stature, or reputation.
- v. To make appear greater; exaggerate: aggrandize one argument while belittling another.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To make great or greater in power, wealth, rank, or honor; exalt: as, to aggrandize a family.
- To magnify or exaggerate.
- To widen in scope; increase in size or intensity; enlarge; extend; elevate.
- Synonyms To honor, dignify, advance, elevate, give luster to.
- To grow or become greater.
- Also spelled aggrandise.
Wiktionary
- v. To make great; to enlarge; to increase; as.
- v. To make great or greater in power, rank, honor, or wealth; applied to persons, countries, etc.
- v. To make appear great or greater; to exalt.
- v. To increase or become great.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To make great; to enlarge; to increase.
- v. To make great or greater in power, rank, honor, or wealth; -- applied to persons, countries, etc.
- v. To make appear great or greater; to exalt.
- v. To increase or become great.
WordNet 3.0
- v. add details to
Etymologies
- French agrandir, agrandiss-, from Old French : a-, to (from Latin ad-; see ad-) + grandir, to grow larger (from Latin grandīre, from grandis, large).
Examples
“Re: Frederic Wakeman's review of China Men [NYR, August 14]: I did not write the myths to "aggrandize" my family and other Chinese Americans by connecting us to the high culture of China.”
“Ill-fare malefits do not 'benefit the poor' at the expense of the rich; they aggrandize the power-seeker at the expense of those who value freedom-from-aggression.”
“Much easier for two elites to unite on their true common ground: aggrandize their own money and power, and the populations they rule take the hindmost.”
The Huffington Post: Ian Fletcher: Appeasers or Cold Warriors: Must America Confront China?
“But using the authority of "God" to justify unjust acts and to aggrandize personal power has lead to today's state, where the very word "God" has become a subject of debate, rather than a transcendent authority for good.”
The Huffington Post: Ralph Singh: Interfaith Storytelling For A More Perfect Union
“But not only does he disaggregate the issue, he, along with others failed to aggrandize the issue.”
“Inc. wants everyone working 60 hours a week for one of its divisions, then spending all they make with its other divisions. everyone in the hive, working to support and aggrandize the Wall St.Queens. the new world order is directed from Boardrooms, not from Capitol Hill.”
“Does this mean you are admitting there's no media conspiracy to aggrandize Obama's performance?”
“But that didn't temper their zeal to use the tainted statistics to aggrandize their boss before the election last year.”
“Holland to attempt to aggrandize his sorry self at the cost of their valor.”
“GIving American's false promises to ingratiate himself, to aggrandize himself – no wonder his polls numbers are heading south.”
Obama leaning towards support for TARP funds to pay for jobs bill
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘aggrandize’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Kangaroo Words 2
Kangaroo words with joey-antonyms, e.g., pest/pet
pest, friend, giant, cremate, covert, there, feast, wonderful, animosity, inattentive, electrocuted, rectitude and 54 more...
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More
aggrandize, augment, increase, improve, increment, evolve, incline, rise, expand
qroqqa Etymologically or morphologically unusual: it contains an '-ize' suffix (and is usually so spelt), but not the '-ize' suffix. It is in fact the French suffix found in 'advertise' and possibly 'chastise'. Nov 26, 2008
Prolagus Now you *must* tell us which song... Nov 26, 2008
alisonrobin I first heard this word in what has become my favorite song. It's the only time I've had to turn to a dictionary to look up something from song lyrics! Nov 26, 2008
oroboros aggRAndiZE. Build up vs. tear down. Aug 22, 2008