amplify
English
Etymology
From Middle English amplifiyen, from Old French amplifier, from Latin amplificare (“to enlarge”), from amplus (“large”) + facere (“to make”). See ample.
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈæmp.lɪ.faɪ/
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: am‧pli‧fy
Verb
amplify (third-person singular simple present amplifies, present participle amplifying, simple past and past participle amplified)
- (transitive) To render larger, more extended, or more intense.
- amplify the loudspeaker
- amplify a telescope
- amplify a microscopes
- amplify the message
- amplify an image on the screen
- amplify the impactof the project
- (transitive, rhetorical) To enlarge by addition or commenting; to treat copiously by adding particulars, illustrations, etc.; to expand.
- 1700, John Dryden, Fables, Ancient and Modern
- Troilus and Cressida was written by a Lombard author, but much amplified by our English translator.
- 1700, John Dryden, Fables, Ancient and Modern
- (transitive) To increase the amplitude of something, especially of an electric current.
- amplify a signal
- (translation studies) To add content that is not present in the source text to the target text, usually to improve the fluency of the translation.
Related terms
- ample
- amplifiable
- amplification
- amplificatory
- amplifier
- amplitude
Translations
render larger etc.
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enlarge rhetorically
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increase amplitude
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translation studies: add content
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Further reading
- amplify in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- amplify in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.