magnify

verb

mag·ni·fy ˈmag-nə-ˌfī

magnified; magnifying

Synonyms of magnify next

transitive verb

: extol, laud

while they magnified the art, they often belittled the artist—

Havelock Ellis

: to cause to be held in greater esteem or respect

: to increase in significance : intensify

real drama … will use ugliness to magnify beauty—

Alan Mickle

: exaggerate

magnifies every minor issue to crisis proportions

: to enlarge in fact or in appearance

The lens magnified the image 100 times.

intransitive verb

: 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 This difficulty is magnified for celebrities, who see their relationship ups-and-downs become the subject of international news headlines and social media trends. —

David Oliver, USA TODAY, 5 Sep. 2023 These risks can also be magnified due to the asset’s emerging nature. —

The Salt Lake Tribune, 9 Aug. 2023 Her friends—and particularly her ex-boyfriend—were pegged as suspects, with teen-age partying and romantic drama magnified into motives for murder. —

Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 31 July 2023 Perhaps the artist’s power to relate to millions of suffering people just magnifies their burden. —

Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 7 Sep. 2023 This fall, El Niño could further magnify the problem. —

Lois Parshley, The Atlantic, 6 Sep. 2023 The view was magnified when photographs surfaced of Mr. Prigozhin meeting with African officials on the sidelines of Mr. Putin’s marquee summit with African leaders in St. Petersburg in July. —

Valerie Hopkins, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2023 The view was magnified when photographs surfaced of Prigozhin meeting with African officials on the sidelines of Putin’s marquee summit with African leaders in St. Petersburg in July. —

Anton Troianovski and Valerie Hopkins, BostonGlobe.com, 25 Aug. 2023 Those problems are magnified when providers need to hire chunks of new employees, such as in the lead-up to winter, when the capacity of homeless resource centers expands to accommodate additional beds in the chilliest months. —

Blake Apgar, The Salt Lake Tribune, 21 Aug. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'magnify.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.