Overmagnify

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To increase in size or importance beyond what is reasonable or accurate
2. To exaggerate the prominence or effect of something more than necessary
3. To enlarge or amplify something to an extreme or unrealistic degree

Etymology: "Overmagnify" is a plain formation: the prefix "over-", meaning excessively or beyond the proper degree, attached to "magnify." That second part comes from Latin "magnificare," built from "magnus" (great) and "facere" (to make), so the word literally means to make something great. Magnifying in English began with the sense of enlarging something to the eye, through a lens, and later widened to praising or inflating importance, which is where "overmagnify" fits. The prefix does the real work here. "Over-" has been productive in English since Old English, and it attaches freely to verbs to mean doing something too much, as in "overcook" or "overreact." "Overmagnify" applies that same pattern to the figurative sense of magnifying, so it describes blowing up the importance of a thing beyond what it deserves rather than enlarging it physically.

Synonyms: exaggerate, overemphasize, overstate, amplify, inflate

Antonyms: understate, minimize, downplay, reduce, diminish