Aggrandization

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. the act of making something appear greater, more important, or more powerful than it actually is
2. the process of enlarging, exaggerating, or elevating the status or significance of something beyond its true merit
3. the practice of inflating or magnifying the importance, size, or grandeur of something to gain advantage or prestige

Etymology: Aggrandizement is built from "aggrandize" plus the suffix "-ation", which turns a verb into a noun for the act or process. The verb itself was formed in English from "aggrandize", which traces through French back to Latin "grandis", meaning "great" or "large". Its opening "ag-" is the Latin "ad-", meaning "to" or "toward", so the whole sense is "to make toward greatness." The "-ize" element arrived through Late Latin and Medieval Greek-influenced French, where it attached to many verbs, while "-ation" came down from Latin "-ātiō" through Old French. Put together, the word describes the process of making something larger, grander, or more powerful, a meaning that carries no inherent praise or blame and can describe either admirable growth or ambitious overreach.

Synonyms: enhancement, expansion, elevation, magnification, augmentation

Antonyms: reduction, diminution, decrease, contraction, lessening