amplify

English

Etymology

From Middle English amplifyen, from Old French amplifier, from Latin amplificare (“to enlarge”), from amplus (“large”) + facere (“to make”). See ample.

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈæmp.lɪ.faɪ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Hyphenation: am‧pli‧fy

Verb

amplify (third-person singular simple present amplifies, present participle amplifying, simple past and past participle amplified)

  1. (transitive) To render larger, more extended, or more intense
    amplify the loudspeaker
    amplify a telescope
    amplify a microscopes
    amplify the message
    amplify an image on the screen
    amplify the impactof the project
  2. (transitive, rhetorical) To enlarge by addition or commenting; to treat copiously by adding particulars, illustrations, etc.; to expand
    • 1700, John Dryden, Fables, Ancient and Modern
      Troilus and Cressida was written by a Lombard author, but much amplified by our English translator.
  3. (transitive) To increase the amplitude of something, especially of an electric current.
    amplify a signal

Translations

Further reading

  • amplify in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • amplify in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
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