Definition of "aggrandize" in English

verb

1. (transitive) To make great; to enlarge; to increase.

   • to aggrandize one's authority, distress

2. (transitive) To make great or greater in power, rank, honor, or wealth (applied to persons, countries, etc.).

3. (transitive) To make appear great or greater; to exalt.

   • 1881, Mark Twain, “Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims,” address at the first annual dinner, N.E. Society, Philadelphia, 22 December, 1881, in Mark Twain’s Speeches, New York: Harper, 1910, p. 18, Why, to be celebrating the mere landing of the Pilgrims—to be trying to make out that this most natural and simple and customary procedure was an extraordinary circumstance—a circumstance to be amazed at, and admired, aggrandized and glorified, at orgies like this for two hundred and sixty years—hang it, a horse would have known enough to land; a horse […]

4. (intransitive, rare) To increase or become great.

   • 1946, Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume 2, Washington: United States Government Printing Office, p. 317, The generals, like Hitler, wanted Germany to aggrandize at the expense of neighboring countries, and to do so if necessary by force or threat of force.