Word.ws English Dictionary

aggrandise

aggrandise is the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of aggrandize.

Meaning of aggrandize

Verb

aggrandize (third-person singular simple present aggrandizes, present participle aggrandizing, simple past and past participle aggrandized)

  1. (transitive) To make great; to enlarge; to increase.
    • to aggrandize one's authority, distress
    Synonyms:
    embiggen, greaten, grow
  2. (transitive) To make great or greater in power, rank, honor, or wealth (applied to persons, countries, etc.).
    • […] the aggrandizing of your estate by well managed fortune […] may well set out your praises to the world […]1635, David Person, “To the Right Honovrable Thomas Earle of Hadington”, in Varieties, London: Thomas Alchorn
    Synonyms:
    elevate, empower, ennoble
  3. (formal, transitive) To make appear great or greater; to exalt.
    • aggrandize one's accomplishments and downplay others'
  4. (intransitive, rare) To increase or become great.
    • The generals, like Hitler, wanted Germany to aggrandize at the expense of neighboring countries, and to do so if necessary by force or threat of force.1946, Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume 2, Washington: United States Government Printing Office, p. 317
    Synonyms:
    enlarge, expand, swell

Forms of aggrandise

third-person singular presentaggrandises
present participleaggrandising
past participleaggrandised
pastaggrandised

Words formed from aggrandise

Questions about aggrandise

What is aggrandise the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of?
Aggrandise is the non-Oxford British English standard spelling of aggrandize.

Words near aggrandise in the dictionary

  1. aggraded
  2. aggrades
  3. aggrading
  4. aggrandisation
  5. aggrandisations
  6. aggrandise
  7. aggrandised
  8. aggrandisement
  9. aggrandisements
  10. aggrandiser
  11. aggrandisers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: aggrandise (page history and authors); aggrandize (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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