Definition of "aggrandize" []

• To increase the scope of; extend. (verb-transitive)
• To make greater in power, influence, stature, or reputation. (verb-transitive)
• To make appear greater; exaggerate: aggrandize one argument while belittling another. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Re: Frederic Wakeman's review of China Men [NYR, August 14]: I did not write the myths to "aggrandize" my family and other Chinese Americans by connecting us to the high culture of China."
• "Ill-fare malefits do not 'benefit the poor' at the expense of the rich; they aggrandize the power-seeker at the expense of those who value freedom-from-aggression."
• "Much easier for two elites to unite on their true common ground: aggrandize their own money and power, and the populations they rule take the hindmost."