exalt

exalt, magnify, aggrandize are comparable when meaning to increase in importance or in prestige. Exalt and magnify also come into comparison in their older sense of to extol or to glorify

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O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together— Ps 34:3

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In modern general use exalt retains its implication of lifting up but emphasizes a raising in a scale of values without necessarily affecting the quality of the thing raised. Therefore one exalts something above another or at the expense of another

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Rousseau's readiness to exalt spontaneity even at the expense of rationality— Babbitt

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there is a valid reason for not preventing games, but . . . not ... for exalting them into a leading position in the school curriculum— Russell

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Magnify stresses increase in size; it commonly suggests an agency (as an optical device) which affects the vision and causes enlargement of apparent size or one (as a vivid imagination) which affects the judgment and leads to exaggeration

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kind, quiet, nearsighted eyes, which his round spectacles magnified into lambent moons— Deland

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the public opinion which . . . magnifies patriotism into a religion— Brownell

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Aggrandize emphasizes increase in greatness or mightiness; it implies efforts, usually selfish efforts, directed to the attainment of power, authority, or worldly eminence

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if we aggrandize ourselves at the expense of the Mahrattas— Wellington

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have we a satisfaction in aggrandizing our families . . . 1—Fielding

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to those of us who are engaged in constructive research and in invention, there is serious moral risk of aggrandizing what we have accomplished— Wiener

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Analogous words: elevate, raise, *lift: heighten, enhance, intensify: extol, laud, *praise

Antonyms: abase

Contrasted words: demean, debase, degrade, humble, humiliate (see ABASE): disparage, depreciate, detract, derogate, *decry, belittle, minimize