aggrandize

American  

[uh-gran-dahyz, ag-ruhn-dahyz] / əˈgræn daɪz, ˈæg rənˌdaɪz /

especially British, aggrandise

verb (used with object)

aggrandized, aggrandizing

1. to widen in scope; increase in size or intensity; enlarge; extend.

   Antonyms:

   reduce

2. to make great or greater in power, wealth, rank, or honor.

   Synonyms:

   exalt, strengthen, inflate

   Antonyms:

   diminish

3. to make (something) appear greater.

   Synonyms:

   magnify

   Antonyms:

   minimize

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aggrandize British  

/ ˈæɡrənˌdaɪz, əˈɡrænˌdaɪz, əˈɡrændɪzmənt /

verb

1. to increase the power, wealth, prestige, scope, etc, of

2. to cause (something) to seem greater; magnify; exaggerate

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Other Word Forms

• aggrandizement noun
• aggrandizer noun

Etymology

Origin of aggrandize

1625–35; < French aggrandiss- (long stem of aggrandir to magnify), equivalent to ag- ag- + grand ( grand ) + -iss -ish ², irregular equated with -ize ( def. )

Example Sentences

With Iowa fully in the rearview mirror, expect to hear a variation on the phrase “Iowa picks corn, New Hampshire picks presidents,” a favorite local slogan that aggrandizes the state’s role in the nominating process.

From New York Times

No one in 1787 could have foreseen Trump, but history had taught the founders about the type: men of “perverted ambition” who “hope to aggrandize themselves by the confusions of their country.”

From Washington Post

If everything is brittle, politicians have endless crises to justify aggrandizing their powers.

From Washington Post

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

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