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enlarge

verb

Simple meaning

To make larger.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ehnlahrj

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ɛnˈlɑɹdʒ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitive

    To make (something) larger.

  2. Make large

  3. Become larger or bigger

  4. transitive

    To increase the capacity of; to expand; to give free scope or greater scope to; also, to dilate, as with joy, affection, etc.

  5. intransitive

    To grow larger.

  6. intransitive

    To speak or write at length upon or on (some subject); expand; elaborate

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

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More ways to use enlarge

  • “She enlarged the flower beds.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

greatly enlargegradually enlarge

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • magnify

    To make (something) larger or more important.

  • expand

    To change (something) from a smaller form or size to a larger one.

  • dilate

    To become wider or larger.

  • expound

    To make a statement, especially at length.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • enlargedadjectiveInflected form

    Excessively enlarged as a result of increased size in the constituent cells.

  • enlargernounInflected form

    Photographic equipment consisting of an optical projector used to enlarge a photograph.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • enlargementnounDerived noun

    The act of increasing (something) in size or volume or quantity or scope.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.