magnify Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb increase in size, volume or significance
    amplify.
    • Her terror was magnified in her mind
  2. verb to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth
    overdraw; exaggerate; overstate; hyperbolize; hyperbolise; amplify.
    • tended to romanticize and exaggerate this `gracious Old South' imagery
  3. verb make large
    blow up; enlarge.
    • blow up an image

WordNet

Mag"ni*fy transitive verb
Etymology
OE. magnifien, F. magnifier, L. magnificare. See Magnific.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Magnified ; present participle & verbal noun Magnifying
Definitions
  1. To make great, or greater; to increase the dimensions of; to amplify; to enlarge, either in fact or in appearance; as, the microscope magnifies the object by a thousand diameters.
    The least error in a small quantity . . . will in a great one . . . be proportionately magnified. Grew.
  2. To increase the importance of; to augment the esteem or respect in which one is held.
    On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel. Joshua iv. 14.
  3. To praise highly; to land; to extol. Archaic
    O, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. Ps. xxxiv. 3.
  4. To exaggerate; as, to magnify a loss or a difficulty.
Mag"ni*fy intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To have the power of causing objects to appear larger than they really are; to increase the apparent dimensions of objects; as, some lenses magnify but little.
  2. To have effect; to be of importance or significance. Cant & Obs. Spectator.

Webster 1913