magnify

verb

1. (transitive)To praise, glorify (someone or something, especially God).

   “For they herde them speake with tonges, and magnify God.”

   “For he who freely magnifies what hath been nobly done, and fears not to declare as freely what might be done better, gives ye the best cov'nant of his fidelity […]”

   “Having already described him [the whale] in most of his present habitatory and anatomical peculiarities, it now remains to magnify him in an archæological, fossiliferous, and antediluvian point of view.”

2. (transitive)To make (something) larger or more important.

   “But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal. This only magnified the indispensable nature of the oligopolists.”

3. (transitive)To make (someone or something) appear greater or more important than it is; to intensify, exaggerate.
4. (transitive)To make (something) appear larger by means of a lens, magnifying glass, telescope etc.

   “Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field. A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that.”

5. (intransitive, obsolete, slang)To have effect; to be of importance or significance.

   “My Governess […] told him I was continually eating some Trash or other. […] But this magnified but little with my Father.”