Ese Bot
May 8, 2009, 01:40 PM
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 08, 2009 is:
aggrandize • \uh-GRAN-dyze\ • verb
1 : to increase or enlarge 2 : to praise highly *3 : to enhance the power, wealth, position, or reputation of
Example sentence:
The organization’s spokesperson seemed to be more interested in aggrandizing herself than in raising money for charity.
Did you know?
"Aggrandize" has enhanced the English vocabulary since the early 17th century. English speakers adapted "agrandiss-," the stem of the French verb "agrandir," to form "aggrandize," and later used the French form "agrandissement" as the basis of the noun "aggrandizement." (The root of "agrandiss-" is Latin; it comes from "grandis," meaning "great.") Nowadays, both noun and verb are regularly paired (somewhat disparagingly) with the prefix "self-" to refer to individuals bent on glorifying themselves, as in the following sentence by Barbara Buchholz which appeared in the Chicago Tribune in 1995: "Celebrity authors eager to reveal all, self-aggrandize and wear their royalties in expensive attire. . . ."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Source (http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?May.08.2009)
aggrandize • \uh-GRAN-dyze\ • verb
1 : to increase or enlarge 2 : to praise highly *3 : to enhance the power, wealth, position, or reputation of
Example sentence:
The organization’s spokesperson seemed to be more interested in aggrandizing herself than in raising money for charity.
Did you know?
"Aggrandize" has enhanced the English vocabulary since the early 17th century. English speakers adapted "agrandiss-," the stem of the French verb "agrandir," to form "aggrandize," and later used the French form "agrandissement" as the basis of the noun "aggrandizement." (The root of "agrandiss-" is Latin; it comes from "grandis," meaning "great.") Nowadays, both noun and verb are regularly paired (somewhat disparagingly) with the prefix "self-" to refer to individuals bent on glorifying themselves, as in the following sentence by Barbara Buchholz which appeared in the Chicago Tribune in 1995: "Celebrity authors eager to reveal all, self-aggrandize and wear their royalties in expensive attire. . . ."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Source (http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?May.08.2009)