Aggrandisements

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The practice of elevating one's authority, wealth, or importance occurs alongside a growth in the significance of a person or concept while seeking to amplify influence or resources beyond their current measures
2. Acts or processes of increasing the perceived power, status, or scope of a person or thing
3. Efforts or instances of enhancing the reputation, influence, or extent of an individual or concept

Etymology: "Aggrandisements" is the plural of "aggrandisement," formed from the verb "aggrandise" with the suffix "-ment." The verb itself comes from the Old French "agrandir," meaning to make larger, which goes back to the Latin "grandis," meaning large or great. Its basic sense is simply enlargement, and in English that sense has long been applied to a person's wealth, status, or power. The suffix "-ment" has a long pedigree of its own. It descends from the Latin "-mentum," which formed nouns naming the result or means of an action, and it passed into English through Old French. That is why so many English nouns ending in "-ment," such as "judgement" and "statement," share the same pattern of a verb turned into a noun for its result. Because the plural simply adds "-s" to the singular, the word in this form refers to several such bids or acts of enlarging one's own power or standing at once.

Synonyms: enlargements, expansions, enhancements

Antonyms: diminishments, reductions