From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmagnifymag‧ni‧fy /ˈmæɡnɪfaɪ/ verb (magnified, magnifying, magnifies) [transitive] 1 BIGto make something seem bigger or louder, especially using special equipment At the Sheffield arena, the speakers were magnified ten times on a giant screen. A public address system magnifies all the little noises and coughs.2 EXAGGERATEto make something seem more important than it really is SYN exaggerate The report tends to magnify the risks involved.3 formalWORSE to make something much worse or more serious The results of economic mismanagement were magnified by a series of natural disasters.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
magnify• On bad teams those inevitable difficulties tend to get magnified.• Yet the former were magnified a hundredfold in terms of publicity.• This microscope can magnify an object up to forty times.• The image is magnified by a series of lenses within the telescope.• Her eyes were magnified by her thick glasses.• Techshare gains were magnified by portfolio borrowings that last summer equaled about 15 cents for each dollar invested.• But they were obvious to most people, even though they were magnified by those who didn't know him well.• Binoculars magnify far-off objects.• Your watchful siblings are the editors perched on your lamp shade, magnifying glasses poised to catch your mistakes.• In doing so, he has magnified his reputation and career a thousandfold.• Our lack of information magnified our mistakes.• This report tends to magnify the risks involved.• Toy problems may converge in a reasonable amount of time; real problems may magnify the task beyond reasonable limits.Origin magnify (1300-1400) French magnifier, from Latin magnificus; → MAGNIFICENT 