embiggen
/ɛmˈbɪɡən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Are there not, however, barbarous verbs in all languages? ἀλλ’ ἐμεγάλυνεν αυτοὺς ὁ λαός, but the people magnified them, to make great or embiggen, if we may invent an English parallel as ugly. After all, use is nearly everything."
- "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man."
- "[Page 24] For large P, the three-form fluxes are dilute, and the gradient of the Myers potential encouraging an anti-D3 to embiggen is very mild. [Page 26] While in both cases for P anti-D3-branes the probe approximation is clearly not good, in the set up of this paper we could argue that there is a competing effect which can overcome the desire of the anti-D3s to embiggen, namely their attraction towards the wrapped D5s."
- "As I joyfully embiggen myself into the vague silhouette of Chewbacca, I have time to reflect on just what it is about big hair that I find so elementally appealing."
- "Train stations: how busy is yours? Victoria Station in 1927. Click image to embiggen."
- "You can hide enemies, stack them up high, embiggen them with a Super Mushroom, hide coins in pipes, and so much more!"
Etymology
From em- + biggen or big + em- -en, possibly analogous to belittle. The morphology parallels that of enlarge (en- + large) or embolden (em- + bold + -en). The verb's first recorded use is in an 1884 edition of the British journal Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc. by C. A. Ward (see quotation below). The word’s current popularity follows its deployment as an intentionally ungainly form by television writer Dan Greaney for The Simpsons episode “Lisa the Iconoclast” in 1996.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɛmˈbɪɡən/
- British English: /ɪmˈbɪɡən/