Magnify
['mægnɪfaɪ] or ['mæɡnɪfaɪ]
Definition
(verb.) increase in size, volume or significance; 'Her terror was magnified in her mind'.
Edited by Alexander--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) To increase the importance of; to augment the esteem or respect in which one is held.
(v. t.) To praise highly; to land; to extol.
(v. t.) To exaggerate; as, to magnify a loss or a difficulty.
(v. i.) 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.
(v. i.) To have effect; to be of importance or significance.
Inputed by Elvira
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Enlarge, augment, amplify, exaggerate, make great, increase the size of (to the eye).[2]. Extol, exalt, elevate, celebrate, glorify, bless, laud, praise highly.
Editor: Sharon
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Enlarge, amplify, increase, augment, exaggerate, laud, extol
ANT:Diminish, contract, curtail, palliate, extenuate, decry
Typist: Weldon
Definition
v.t. to make great or greater: to enlarge: to cause to appear greater: to exaggerate: to praise highly:—pa.p. mag′nified.—adjs. Mag′nifiable that may be magnified; Magnif′ic -al great: splendid: noble.—adv. Magnif′ically in a magnificent manner.—ns. Magnificā′tion act of magnifying: increase of visual power in penetration as well as enlargement; Mag′nifier one who or that which magnifies or enlarges: one who extols.—Magnify one's self show great pride—against oppose with pride; Magnifying glass in optics a convex lens objects seen through it having their apparent dimensions increased.
Edited by Emily
Examples
- It is a pity but their office could magnify them; but it does nought o' t' soart. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Are not the tragic poets wise who magnify and exalt the tyrant, and say that he is wise by association with the wise? Plato. The Republic.
- You poor superficial Englishman, it is to magnify my own self-control. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- But Madame was before me; she had stepped out suddenly; she seemed to magnify her proportions and amplify her drapery; she eclipsed me; I was hid. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Fish globes magnify the fish that swim within. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- It only looked like a considerably magnified bedstead--nothing more. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- His lamp was pronounced a fake, a myth, possibly a momentary success magnified to the dignity of a permanent device by an overenthusiastic inventor. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The image, magnified by the lenses of the electric lamp, could thus be distinctly seen without being too brilliant to dazzle the eyes. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- In the compound two or more lenses are so arranged that the image formed by one is magnified by the others, and viewed as if it were the object itself. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Every sound she magnified into the stealthy creeping of a sinuous and malignant body. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- In this process of transmission there is a certain loss of light, and to allow for that the image is magnified to about one-quarter above natural size. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The disc of the full moon, however highly magnified, presents, as is well-known, the appearance of a flat surface, with the lights and shadows marked seemingly on a plane. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill with his powerful magnifying lens. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Hearing that this was impossible, he next sent for a magnifying-glass, and tried how the smear looked, seen that way. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Reproductions were obtained in the same way, positive prints being observed through a magnifying glass. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Look at that with your magnifying glass, Mr. Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- They range from mere specks scarcely visible with a powerful magnifying glass, to large black spots or clusters of large or small black specks sometimes quite plain to the naked eye. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- As he held the waxen print close to the blood-stain, it did not take a magnifying glass to see that the two were undoubtedly from the same thumb. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Somebody put a drop under a magnifying-glass and it was all semicolons and parentheses, said Mrs. Cadwallader. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Why is it that darkness so magnifies our dangers? Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- Soon he had greatly improved upon his model, and had an instrument, which, as he said, magnifies things as much as 50,000 times, so that one sees a fly as large as a hen. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
Typed by Ferris