inflate

Verb

inflate (third-person singular simple present inflates, present participle inflating, simple past and past participle inflated)

1. (transitive) To enlarge an object by pushing air (or a gas) into it; to raise or expand abnormally
   • You inflate a balloon by blowing air into it.
   • When passion's tumults in the bosom rise, / Inflate the features, and enrage the eyes.1782, John Scott of Amwell, An Essay on Painting
2. (intransitive) To enlarge by filling with air (or a gas).
   • The balloon will inflate if you blow into it.
3. (figuratively) To swell; to puff up.
   • to inflate somebody with pride or vanity
   • [I]f they find / Some stain or blemish in a name of note, / Not grieving that their greatest are so small, / Inflate themselves with some insane delight, / And judge all nature from her feet of clay, […]1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Vivien”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 137
4. (transitive) To decompress (data) that was previously deflated.
5. (figuratively, transitive) To represent something as being more important, better, or worse than it actually is; to exaggerate.
   • Israel routinely claims that the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas, has a tendency to inflate the number of Palestinian casualties in the Gaza Strip.