aggrandize

verb

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ag·gran·dize | \ ə-ˈgran-ˌdīz

also ˈa-grən- \

aggrandized; aggrandizing

Definition of aggrandize

transitive verb

1 : to make great or greater : increase, enlarge aggrandize an estate

2 : to make appear great or greater : praise highly

3 : to enhance the power, wealth, position, or reputation of exploited the situation to aggrandize himself

Other Words from aggrandize Synonyms & Antonyms Did you know? More Example Sentences Learn More About aggrandize

Other Words from aggrandize

aggrandizement \ ə-ˈgran-dəz-mənt

, -ˌdīz- also ˌa-grən-ˈdīz- \ noun

aggrandizer \ ə-ˈgran-ˌdī-zər

also ˈa-grən- \ noun

Did you know?

Aggrandize has enhanced the English vocabulary since the early 17th century. English speakers adapted agrandiss-, the stem of the French verb agrandir, to form aggrandize, and later used the French form agrandissement as the basis of the noun aggrandizement. (The root of agrandiss- is Latin; it comes from grandis, meaning "large, great.") Nowadays, both noun and verb are regularly paired (somewhat disparagingly) with the prefix self- to refer to individuals bent on glorifying themselves, as sports writer Alan Shipnuck demonstrates in a 2015 Sports Illustrated article, writing "golf is not a sport that smiles upon the self-aggrandizing."

Examples of aggrandize in a Sentence

a movie that aggrandizes the bad guys and makes the cops look like dopes a generous grant, enabling the library to significantly aggrandize its collection of books on tape

Recent Examples on the Web Instead, the film inaugurates a tradition that misses the forest for the trees—critiques of political professionals that aggrandize them as the frustrating yet endlessly fascinating loci of all our problems. — Osita Nwanevu, The New Republic, 25 Apr. 2022 America’s public discourse seems to consist of a never-ending series of brief monologues, typed out on social media and intended to wound others and aggrandize the self. — Jory Fleming, WSJ, 17 June 2021 The tax mandate is an egregious affront to federalism that would aggrandize Washington and erode interstate economic-policy competition. — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 16 May 2021 Soon Parveen discovers that Crane’s book is a self-aggrandizing fabric of lies. — Katherine A. Powers, Washington Post, 19 Nov. 2019 The second outing with self-aggrandizing stalker (and murderer) Joe is just as addictive as the first, if a little repetitive. — Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 4 Dec. 2019 What had happened to this diminutive scholar from Baghdad, in Iraq's dusty plains and dense alleyways, to leave him capable of such a self-aggrandizing pronouncement and the sickening violence that went with it? — Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, 27 Oct. 2019 Eventually, in Beran’s aggrandizing telling, 4chan’s crescendo of furious nihilism delivers President Trump to America. — Emma Grey Ellis, WIRED, 31 July 2019 There’s Eastern European folk music, soft shoe numbers, self-aggrandizing hip-hop, guitar rock and more. — Dominic P. Papatola, Twin Cities, 15 Sep. 2019 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'aggrandize.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for aggrandize

borrowed (with assimilation of the ending to -ize) from French agrandiss-, stem of agrandir, going back to Old French, from a-, verb-forming prefix (going back to Latin ad- ad-) + -grandir, verbal derivative of grand "large, great," going back to Latin grandis "fully grown, large, great" — more at grand entry 1