mag·ni·fy

(măg′nə-fī′)

v. mag·ni·fied, mag·ni·fy·ing, mag·ni·fies

v.tr.

a. To increase the apparent size of (an object), especially by means of a lens, instrument, or device.

b. To increase the volume of (sound): "Canyons magnified the thunder" (John Vernon).

2. To make more intense or extreme: High winds magnified the danger.

3. To cause to appear greater, more important, or more extreme than is in fact the case: Her mistakes were magnified in the tabloid press. See Synonyms at exaggerate.

4. Archaic To glorify or praise.

v.intr.

To increase or have the power to increase the size or volume of an image or a sound.

[Middle English magnifien, to extol, from Old French magnifier, from Latin magnificāre, from magnificus, magnificent; see magnific.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

magnified - enlarged to an abnormal degree; "thick lenses exaggerated the size of her eyes"

exaggerated, enlarged

increased - made greater in size or amount or degree

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

What were they about to discover in the field of this telescope which magnified objects 48,000 times?

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And more than that, with the powerful one set up at Long's Peak, the orb of night, magnified 48,000 times, is brought to within less than two leagues, and objects having a diameter of thirty feet are seen very distinctly.

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ROAMING BY the mountainside at sundown, a Wolf saw his own shadow become greatly extended and magnified, and he said to himself, "Why should I, being of such an immense size and extending nearly an acre in length, be afraid of the Lion?

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His name even went into immortal print, for the village paper magnified him.

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and also the strange experiences of the highly magnified Woggle-Bug, Jack Pumpkin-head, the Animated Saw-Horse and the Gump; the story being

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He had once been a tiny little bug, crawling around in a school-room, but he was discovered and highly magnified so that he could be seen more plainly, and while in this magnified condition he had escaped.

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And the impulses felt by a single person are always magnified in a crowd.

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Even Scoresby, the justly renowned Right whaleman, after giving us a stiff full length of the Greenland whale, and three or four delicate miniatures of narwhales and porpoises, treats us to a series of classical engravings of boat hooks, chopping knives, and grapnels; and with the microscopic diligence of a Leuwenhoeck submits to the inspection of a shivering world ninety-six fac-similes of magnified Arctic snow crystals.

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Causes of retreat in particular cases were magnified. Blows dealt in the fight were enlarged to catapultian power, and stones thrown were alleged to have hurtled with infinite accuracy.

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The company explained that the module enables practitioners to see a more magnified and enhanced resolution view of previously unperceivable retinal microstructures.

Magnified view

Offset at a 45-degree angle, these sights allow the user to leave their magnified optic exactly where it is and, by canting their rifle inward when shouldered, gain a sight picture through the ACCUSYNC[TM] sights.

UTG ACCU-SYNC[TM] 45-DEGREE ANGLE FLIP-UP IRON SIGHTS