aggrandize
uh-GRAN-dyz · verb
To increase the power, status, wealth, or reputation of someone or something.
Memory connection
Picture “a grand rise”
A platform rises higher with every chant until one official towers grandly above the crowd, enlarged in status and power.
The sound cue helps you reach the scene; the action in the scene carries you from the scene to the definition.
Use it accurately
Meaning in context
The ruler used public monuments to aggrandize his family’s reputation.
Critics said the reorganization was designed to aggrandize the central office.
Aggrandize often carries criticism that power or prestige is being inflated. The reflexive form, aggrandize oneself, means promote one’s own importance.
Common patterns
- aggrandize oneself
- personal aggrandizement
- seek to aggrandize
Quick check
Can you retrieve the meaning?
Which action most clearly aggrandizes a leader?
Choose an answer, then explain it in your own words.