amplification

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin amplificātiō (“a widening, extending”),^[2][3][4][5] a noun of action from amplificātus, the past participle of amplificō (“to enlarge, broaden, increase”),^[3][4][5] which is formed from amplus (“large”) and faciō (“to make, do”),^[3] from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to set, put”).^[3] The Shorter Oxford also allows a borrowing from French.^[6] In post-classical Latin the noun also meant an explanation of a word or phrase and an exaggeration or embellishment.^[2] The OED compares Middle French amplification (14th century), Spanish amplificación and Italian amplificazione (1334).^[2] It is the noun of amplify, and related to ample.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Physical enlargement, the increasing of the size of something: before 1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie.^[2] The OED, revised in 2024, antedates the 1540s of Etymonline^[3] and Merriam-Webster's 1546.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the word was at first often used of rhetorical devices:^[3] from 1532 it meant enlarging a statement to increase its effect or the importance of the subject; from about 1537 it meant an embellishment or exaggeration.^[2] From 1542 it was also used of expanding a text or statement with new material.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave "enlargement; extension" and the rhetorical sense of "exaggerated representation, or diffuse narrative".^[7] In optics it named the magnifying power of a lens (1684);^[2] the sense of increasing the loudness of a sound is from 1877,^[2] and electrical amplification of a signal from 1907,^[2] with Etymonline dating the electrical enlargement of sound to 1915.^[3] Since 1962 it has been used in genetics of the production of many copies of a gene or DNA sequence.^[2][4]

Timeline

• before 1425 – physical enlargement.^[2]
• 1532 – in rhetoric, enlarging a statement for effect.^[2]
• c. 1537 – an embellishment, an exaggeration.^[2]
• 1542 – expanding a statement or text with new material.^[2]
• 1567 – increasing the intensity of something immaterial.^[2]
• 1684 – in optics, the magnifying power of a lens.^[2]
• 1877 – increasing the loudness of a sound.^[2]
• 1907 – increasing the strength of an electrical signal.^[2]
• 1962 – in genetics, the copying of a gene or DNA sequence.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or result of amplifying, enlarging or extending.^[8][9][4]
2. Material added to a statement or idea to expand or clarify it, or a statement so expanded: The minister declined to give any amplification of his remarks.^[8][9][4]
3. (electronics) The increase in strength of a signal, voltage or current, as by an amplifier.^[8][9][2]
4. (genetics) The production of many copies of a gene or DNA sequence.^[4][2]
5. (rhetoric) The enlarging of a statement for effect; an embellishment or exaggeration.^[2][7]

Related words

• ample
• amplifier
• amplificatory
• amplify
• amplitude

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins