amplify

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

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæmp.lɪ.faɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: am‧pli‧fy

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 microscope

   amplify the message

   amplify an image on the screen

   amplify the impact of 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.

   • 1981 August 8, Nancy Wechsler, “Michigan May Register 'Sex Offenders'”, in Gay Community News, page 3:

     GCN asked Gill just who this law was aimed at. "Child abusers" he responded. He would not amplify on what he meant by child abusers.

   • 2024 August 19, Christina Harward, Nicole Wolkov, Grace Mappes, Davit Gasparyan, Karolina Hird, George Barros, “Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 19, 2024”, in Ukraine Project, The Institute for the Study of War:

     Russian state media focused on Putin's trip to Azerbaijan, amplifying minute details, likely in part to divert attention from the uncomfortable situation in Russia by saturating the information space with a showcase of the Kremlin's global diplomatic engagement and alleged successes.

3. (transitive) To increase the amplitude of something, especially of an electric current.

   amplify a signal

4. (translation studies) To add content that is not present in the source text to the target text, usually to improve the fluency of the translation.

• “amplify”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “amplify”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.