magnify
English
Alternative forms
- magnifie (obsolete)
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French magnifier, from Latin magnificāre, from magnificus.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmaɡnɪfaɪ/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈmæɡnɪfaɪ/
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
magnify (third-person singular simple present magnifies, present participle magnifying, simple past and past participle magnified)
- (transitive) To praise, glorify (someone or something, especially God). [from 14th c.]
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], OCLC 762018299, Acts ]:
- For they herde them speake with tonges, and magnify God.
- 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], OCLC 879551664:
- 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 [...].
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- (transitive) To make (something) larger or more important. [from 14th c.]
- 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:
- 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.
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- (transitive) To make (someone or something) appear greater or more important than it is; to intensify, exaggerate. [from 17th c.]
- (transitive) To make (something) appear larger by means of a lens, magnifying glass, telescope etc. [from 17th c.]
- 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
- 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.
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- (intransitive, slang, obsolete) To have effect; to be of importance or significance.
- 1712 July 26 (Gregorian calendar), Richard Steele, “TUESDAY, July 15, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 431; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697:
- My Governess […] told him I was continually eating some Trash or other. […] But this magnified but little with my Father.
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Derived terms
- magnifier
- magnifying glass
- magnification
Related terms
- minify (opposite)
Translations
to make larger
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