inflate

verb

1. (transitive)To enlarge an object by pushing air (or a gas) into it; to raise or expand abnormally

   “You inflate a balloon by blowing air into it.”

   “When passion's tumults in the bosom rise, / Inflate the features, and enrage the eyes.”

2. (intransitive)To enlarge by filling with air (or a gas).

   “The balloon will inflate if you blow into it.”

3. (figuratively)To swell; to puff up.

   “to inflate somebody with pride or vanity”

   “[I]f they find / Some stain or blemish in a name of note, / Not grieving that their greatest are so small, / Inflate themselves with some insane delight, / And judge all nature from her feet of clay, […]”

4. (transitive)To decompress (data) that was previously deflated.
5. (figuratively, transitive)To represent something as being more important, better, or worse than it actually is; to exaggerate.

   “Israel routinely claims that the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas, has a tendency to inflate the number of Palestinian casualties in the Gaza Strip.”