Definition of aggrandize
aggrandized
;aggrandizing
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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 of aggrandize from the Web
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Far from the boastful, self-aggrandizing videos of the past, the group is now urging fighters to resist and not run away from the battlefield.
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Scheie’s star-making performance nails cheerful, brittlely self-important egomaniac Gregor’s larger-than-life personality, lust for life and colorful, self-aggrandizing puffery.
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But the issue is that Paul, a former high-school teacher, is infinitely nastier and more superior, despite his self-aggrandizing resentment toward his brother.
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The new president declares his inauguration day a special, self-aggrandizing day and goes on to sign an unprecedented number of executive orders in his first two weeks in office.
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Many Democrats came to view Mr. Nader as an obstreperous, self-aggrandizing spoiler.
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The detective blames Nichols, the self-aggrandizing adviser who convinced the Cabazons to build a casino, for conjuring the intrigue that continued to befog the case long after his death.
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.
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 "great.") Nowadays, both noun and verb are regularly paired (somewhat disparagingly) with the prefix self- to refer to individuals bent on glorifying themselves, as in the following sentence by Barbara Buchholz which appeared in the Chicago Tribune in 1995: "Celebrity authors eager to reveal all, self-aggrandize and wear their royalties in expensive attire. . . ."
Origin and Etymology of aggrandize
French agrandiss-, stem of agrandir, from a- (from Latin ad-) + grandir to increase, from Latin grandire, from grandis great
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