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Exaggerate vs Magnify - What's the difference?

exaggerate | magnify |

Magnify is a synonym of exaggerate.



As verbs the difference between exaggerate and magnify

is that exaggerate is to overstate, to describe more than is fact while magnify is to praise, glorify (someone or something, especially god).

exaggerate

English

Verb

(exaggerat)
  • To overstate, to describe more than is fact.
  • I've told you a billion times not to exaggerate !
    He said he'd slept with hundreds of girls, but I know he's exaggerating . The real number is about ten.

    Synonyms

    * overexaggerate * overstate

    Antonyms

    * (overstate) downplay, understate

    Derived terms

    * exaggeratedly * exaggeratingly * exaggerative * exaggeratively * exaggerativeness * exaggerator * exaggeratory

    magnify

    English

    Verb

  • To praise, glorify (someone or something, especially god).
  • * 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Acts X:
  • For they herde them speake with tonges, and magnify God.
  • * 1644 , (John Milton), (Aeropagitica) :
  • 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 [...].
  • To make (something) larger or more important.
  • * Grew
  • The least error in a small quantitybe proportionately magnified .
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, author=(Edwin Black), title=Internal Combustion
  • , chapter=2 citation , passage=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.}}
  • To make (someone or something) appear greater or more important than it is; to intensify, exaggerate.
  • To make (something) appear larger by means of a lens, magnifying glass, telescope etc.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=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.}}
  • (intransitive, slang, obsolete) To have effect; to be of importance or significance.
  • (Spectator)

    Derived terms

    * magnifier * magnifying glass * magnification