magnify

Verb

magnify (third-person singular simple present magnifies, present participle magnifying, simple past and past participle magnified)

1. (transitive) To praise, glorify (someone or something, especially God).
   • For they herde them speake with tonges, and magnify God.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts
   • 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 […]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

   Synonyms:

   exalt, extol, laud, aggrandize, applaud, enthrone, appraise, belaud, bepraise, commend

2. (transitive) To make (something) larger or more important.
   • 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...2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion
3. (transitive) To make (someone or something) appear greater or more important than it is; to intensify, exaggerate.
4. (transitive) To make (something) appear larger by means of a lens, magnifying glass, telescope etc.
   • 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.2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist
5. (intransitive, obsolete, slang) To have effect; to be of importance or significance.
   • My Governess […] told him I was continually eating some Trash or other. […] But this magnified but little with my Father.1712 July 25 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “MONDAY, July 15, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 431; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New...