aggrandize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to increase the power, wealth, prestige, scope, etc, of
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to cause (something) to seem greater; magnify; exaggerate
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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aggrandizesimple
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aggrandizessimple
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have aggrandizedperfect
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has aggrandizedperfect
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am aggrandizingprogressive
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are aggrandizingprogressive
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is aggrandizingprogressive
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have been aggrandizingperfect progressive
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has been aggrandizingperfect progressive
Past
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aggrandizedsimple
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had aggrandizedperfect
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was aggrandizingprogressive
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were aggrandizingprogressive
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had been aggrandizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of aggrandize
1625–35; < French aggrandiss- (long stem of aggrandir to magnify), equivalent to ag- ag- + grand ( see grand) + -iss -ish 2, irregular equated with -ize ( def. )
Explanation
If you are a window washer, but you refer to yourself as a "vista enhancement specialist," then you are aggrandizing your job title — that is, making it sound greater than it is. The verb aggrandize not only means "to make appear greater"; it can also be used to mean simply "to make greater." If you buy an estate and sink millions of dollars into its improvement, then you are actually aggrandizing the estate. If you are making yourself seem greater, then people may say you are "self-aggrandizing."
Vocabulary lists containing aggrandize
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Experience shows that it is not wise to trust human cupidity where it has the opportunity to aggrandize itself at the expense of others,” they wrote.
From Barron's ● May 2, 2026
“There was never looking for credit, never looking to aggrandize himself,” Rendell told AP.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 21, 2022
Mr. King admitted that the story was a fabrication aimed to aggrandize the sorrowful childhood of Larry Zeiger.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 23, 2021
It feels odd to talk about, because I don’t want to aggrandize myself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2019
Meanwhile the Danish monarchy was attempting to aggrandize itself at the expense of the Germans, the Wends who then occupied the Baltic littoral as far as the Vistula, and Danish expansion. the other Scandinavian kingdoms.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 2 "Demijohn" to "Destructor" by Various
Trinidad Gonzales, a history professor at South Texas College, said the pamphlet aggrandizes Manifest Destiny, the belief that American settlers had the God-given right to expand across North America.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2022
An army of female dancers aggrandizes her divadom, and, as one of her lead choreographers told the Times, “everything,” everything, “is choreographed to a T.”
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2021
It seems like, among other things a miserable mindset, one that aggrandizes your ego but withers your soul.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 19, 2019
Nichol, who also deftly shot and edited the film, never fetishizes or aggrandizes the typewriter, but instead smartly contextualizes its place as a classic symbol of American ingenuity, practicality and style.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2017
Reading aggrandizes the soul, and an enlightened friend affords consolation.
From Voltaire's Romances, Complete in One Volume by
Chalamet is, of course, playing a character — an outsized version of himself, built atop the already aggrandized persona he’s become known for in his relatively short career.
From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2025
This aggrandized, conceited movement makes it neither a priority nor a concern worthy of more than lip service.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 3, 2021
And would the predictable reaction have been helpful, or only further aggrandized terrorism and divided society?
From US News ● Oct. 26, 2016
I think it’s fascinating that, as your role aggrandized there, you took on some of the natural roles for a talented IT executive but you also listed corporate strategy as one of your responsibilities.
From Forbes ● Jun. 16, 2014
The fathers whose sons had played merited a more aggrandized status in the fraternity of older men who queued along the passageway.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
It seems aggrandizing and selfish to dwell on it when there are many people who lost everything in the course of that single day.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 9, 2022
His self-made story is tantalizing enough but Western media can’t resist aggrandizing the hardship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2022
In 2019 alone, “red” museums and memorials, aggrandizing Communist Party history, drew 1.4 billion visits, making them among the most popular destinations in the world.
From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2022
Fatherhood for me rests somewhere between selfless sacrifice and aggrandizing self-preservation.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 14, 2021
And our Lord would have us "take no thought for the morrow," which surely is a dissuasion from aggrandizing ourselves, accumulating wealth, or aiming at distinction.
From Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII (of 8) by Newman, John Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
