magnify
verb
mag·ni·fy
ˈmag-nə-ˌfī 
magnified; magnifying
1
2
a
: to increase in significance : intensify
… real drama … will use ugliness to magnify beauty …—
Alan Mickle
Alan Mickle
b
: exaggerate
magnifies every minor issue to crisis proportions
3
: to enlarge in fact or in appearance
The lens magnified the image 100 times.
: to have the power of causing objects to appear larger than they are
a glass that magnifies greatly
Examples of magnify in a Sentence
The sound was magnified by the calm air.
His failures have been magnified by the success of his friends.
I don't want to magnify the importance of these problems.
The lens magnified the image 100 times.
a magnified view of the image
Recent Examples on the Web
The severity of the crash was magnified by traders being caught off guard by a potent combination of macroeconomic news and excessively high leverage.
—Lyssanoel Frater, Freep.com, 25 Nov. 2025
Pollutants travel up the food chain, getting magnified at every stage.
—Ben Taub, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
Staring at the hundreds of millions of stars in the bulge, Roman will occasionally see some flicker, brightening temporarily as the gravity of an unseen foreground planet magnifies their light before moving out of alignment.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 24 Nov. 2025
Pyongyang and Moscow inked a strategic partnership in June 2024, which magnified Western concerns about possible Russian sharing of nuclear technology.
—Ellie Cook, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for magnify
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Lyssanoel Frater, Freep.com, 25 Nov. 2025
Pollutants travel up the food chain, getting magnified at every stage.
—Ben Taub, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
Staring at the hundreds of millions of stars in the bulge, Roman will occasionally see some flicker, brightening temporarily as the gravity of an unseen foreground planet magnifies their light before moving out of alignment.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 24 Nov. 2025
Pyongyang and Moscow inked a strategic partnership in June 2024, which magnified Western concerns about possible Russian sharing of nuclear technology.
—Ellie Cook, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for magnify
Cite this Entry
“Magnify.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/magnify. Accessed 1 Dec. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
magnify
verb
mag·ni·fy
ˈmag-nə-ˌfī
magnified; magnifying
2
a
: to increase in importance
b
3
: to enlarge in fact or in appearance
a microscope magnifies an object seen through it
magnifier
noun
-ˌfī(-ə)r
Medical Definition
magnify
verb
mag·ni·fy
ˈmag-nə-ˌfī
magnified; magnifying
: to enlarge in appearance
: to have the power of causing objects to appear larger than they are
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