amplify
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English amplifiyen, from Old French amplifier, from Latin amplificare (“to enlarge”), from amplus (“large”) + facere (“to make”). See ample , equivalent to ample + -ify.
Pronunciation edit
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈæmp.lɪ.faɪ/
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: am‧pli‧fy
Verb edit
amplify (third-person singular simple present amplifies, present participle amplifying, simple past and past participle amplified)
- (transitive) To render larger, more extended, or more intense.
- amplify the loudspeaker
- amplify a telescope
- amplify a microscopes
- amplify the message
- amplify an image on the screen
- amplify the impact of the project
- (transitive, rhetorical) To enlarge by addition or commenting; to treat copiously by adding particulars, illustrations, etc.; to expand.
- 1700, John Dryden, Fables, Ancient and Modern:
- Troilus and Cressida was written by a Lombard author, but much amplified by our English translator.
- 1981 August 8, Nancy Wechsler, “Michigan May Register 'Sex Offenders'”, in Gay Community News, page 3:
- GCN asked Gill just who this law was aimed at. "Child abusers" he responded. He would not amplify on what he meant by child abusers.
- (transitive) To increase the amplitude of something, especially of an electric current.
- amplify a signal
- (translation studies) To add content that is not present in the source text to the target text, usually to improve the fluency of the translation.
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
render larger etc.
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enlarge rhetorically
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increase amplitude
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translation studies: add content
Further reading edit
- “amplify”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “amplify”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.