amplify Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb increase in size, volume or significance
    magnify.
    • Her terror was magnified in her mind
  2. verb to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth
    overdraw; magnify; exaggerate; overstate; hyperbolize; hyperbolise.
    • tended to romanticize and exaggerate this `gracious Old South' imagery
  3. verb exaggerate or make bigger
    inflate; blow up; expand.
    • The charges were inflated
  4. verb increase the volume of
    • amplify sound

WordNet

Am"pli*fy transitive verb
Etymology
F. amplifier, L. amplificare. See Ample, -fy.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Amplified present participle & verbal noun Amplifying
Definitions
  1. To render larger, more extended, or more intense, and the like; -- used especially of telescopes, microscopes, etc.
  2. (Rhet.) To enlarge by addition or discussion; to treat copiously by adding particulars, illustrations, etc.; to expand; to make much of.
    Troilus and Cressida was written by a Lombard author, but much amplified by our English translator. Dryden.
Am"pli*fy intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To become larger. Obs.
    Strait was the way at first, withouten light, But further in did further amplify. Fairfax.
  2. To speak largely or copiously; to be diffuse in argument or description; to dilate; to expatiate; -- often with on or upon. Watts.
    He must often enlarge and amplify upon the subject he handles. South.

Webster 1913