magnify
/ˈmæɡnɪfaɪ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.77 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To make (someone or something) appear greater or more important than it is; to intensify, exaggerate.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "For they herde them speake with tonges, and magnify God."
- "For he who freely magnifies what hath been nobly done, and fears not to declare as freely what might be done better, gives ye the best cov'nant of his fidelity […]"
- "Having already described him [the whale] in most of his present habitatory and anatomical peculiarities, it now remains to magnify him in an archæological, fossiliferous, and antediluvian point of view."
- "But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal. This only magnified the indispensable nature of the oligopolists."
- "Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field. A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that."
- "My Governess […] told him I was continually eating some Trash or other. […] But this magnified but little with my Father."
Etymology
From Middle English magnifien, from Middle French magnifier, from Latin magnificāre, from magnificus.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmæɡnɪfaɪ/
- British English: /ˈmaɡnɪfaɪ/