Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To make greater in size; enlarge.
- v. To cause to appear greater or seem more important than is in fact the case; exaggerate: You have grossly magnified a trivial situation. See Synonyms at exaggerate.
- v. To increase the apparent size of, especially by means of a lens.
- v. To glorify or praise.
- v. To increase or have the power to increase the size or volume of an image or a sound.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To make greater; increase the size, amount, or extent of; enlarge; augment.
- To cause to appear greater; increase the apparent dimensions of; enlarge or augment to the eye: as, a convex lens magnifies the bulk of a body to the eye.
- To exalt the power, glory, or greatness of; sound the praises of; extol; glorify.
- To represent as greater than the reality; exaggerate: as, to magnify a person's deeds; to magnify the evils of one's lot.
Wiktionary
- v. To make an object appear larger so one can see it in more detail, such as with a magnifying glass or a telescope.
- v. To make a situation or an idea appear greater or more important than it is.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To make great, or greater; to increase the dimensions of; to amplify; to enlarge, either in fact or in appearance.
- v. To increase the importance of; to augment the esteem or respect in which one is held.
- v. To praise highly; to laud; to extol.
- v. To exaggerate.
- v. To have the power of causing objects to appear larger than they really are; to increase the apparent dimensions of objects.
- v. To have effect; to be of importance or significance.
WordNet 3.0
- v. increase in size, volume or significance
- v. make large
- v. to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth
Etymologies
- Middle English magnifien, to extol, from Old French magnifier, from Latin magnificāre, from magnificus, magnificent; see magnific.
Examples
“He said the attention stirred up by the ad helps to "magnify" the marketing message for the show.”
“On Sunday, Thomas Ricks reported in the Washington Post that the US military has been conducting a propaganda campaign to "magnify" the role of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.”
Ankush Khardori: Did the Times Get Taken in by a Military Propaganda Campaign?
“That requires ungainly software tools to "magnify" portions of the page in order to actually read the words.”
Newsweek: The Practical Futurist: The Rebirth Of E-Publishing
“If you don't usually go to evensong or sing choruses, the word 'magnify' isn't instantly going to communicate much; it simply means what a magnifying glass does – making things look bigger.”
“These first magnifying-glasses were associated with magic, or wonder-working; the words "magnify" and "magic" having a common source and a similar meaning.”
“It covered the frequency range of from 540 kHz to 31 MHz with a band spread feature to "magnify" the ham bands of the period for easier tuning.”
“If you have a favorite highlight reel or other video you think Offside readers would enjoy, either your own or one you've found on a hosting site (like YouTube or DailyMotion or Sapo. pt), we'd love it if you'd "magnify" it on the site.”
“Go to start menu and click run then type "magnify" it is windows magnify tool then invert colors works. beforethey get to the screen which i am not sure if it is possible”
“Go to start menu and click run then type "magnify" it is windows magnify tool then invert colors works.”
“Gordon Brown has called for the two nations to work closer together, in order to 'magnify' the ongoing economic bailout packages.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘magnify’.
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Words for financial performance
Business and financial journalists tend to use the same tired few words to describe what happens to economies, markets and prices. Enough of grow, soar, boom, crash, bust, collapse and so on. Let's...
swell, inflate, dilate, mount, accrue, magnify, amplify, blossom, fatten up, dwindle, dissipate, shrivel and 31 more...

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