am·pli·fy  ( ăm pl ə-f ī′)
Share:
v. am·pli·fied, am·pli·fy·ing, am·pli·fies v.tr.1. To make larger or more powerful; increase. 2. To add to, as by illustrations; make complete. 3. To exaggerate. 4. To produce amplification of: amplify an electrical signal. v.intr. To write or discourse at length; expatiate: Let me amplify so that you will understand the overall problem.
[Middle English amplifien, from Old French amplifier, from Latin amplificāre : amplus, large + -ficāre, -fy.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
Indo-European Roots
Semitic Roots
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.
This website is best viewed in Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, or Safari. Some characters in pronunciations and etymologies cannot be displayed properly in Internet Explorer.