amplify

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English amplifien,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle French amplifier^[5][6][3][7] and directly borrowed from Latin amplificō (“to enlarge, increase”).^[5] The American Heritage Dictionary and Etymonline call the French source Old French,^[4][8] and the OED dates the French verb to 1450.^[5] The Latin verb is formed from amplus (“large”), the source of ample, and -ficō, from faciō (“to make, do”),^{[8][4][9][10]} which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *dhe- (“to set, put”).^[8] Barnhart derives it through amplificus (“splendid”).^[6] The OED compares Spanish amplificar (late 14th century) and Italian amplificare (before 1292).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make something larger, and to increase the importance or degree of something: in the translation of Higden's Polychronicon preserved in a manuscript of before 1475 and composed perhaps about 1425,^[5][2] where it is used of enlarging a city with walls and of increasing the tillage of land.^[2] Barnhart dates it to probably before 1425.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense "to make larger" is now somewhat rare.^[5] From 1532 the verb was used in rhetoric, of making something seem greater by amplification, and of expanding an account by telling it more fully;^[5] intransitive amplify, to speak or write at greater length, followed in 1576, and amplify on, to elaborate on a subject, in 1579.^[5][3] Johnson (1755) gave first the sense of enlarging a material thing.^[11] Etymonline dates the sense "to increase in volume or amount" to the 1570s.^[8] Making a sound louder is recorded from Bacon in 1626, but was rare before the 20th century;^[5] Etymonline links the restriction to sound with radio technology from about 1915.^[8] Increasing an electrical signal is recorded from 1884, connecting a guitar to an amplifier from 1948, and, in genetics, making many copies of a gene from 1966.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – to enlarge something physically; to increase the importance or degree of something.^[5][2]
• 1532 – in rhetoric, to make something seem greater; to expand an account.^[5]
• 1545 – to increase the number or quantity of something.^[5]
• 1579 – amplify on, to elaborate on a subject.^[5]
• 1626 – to make a sound louder.^[5]
• 1884 – to increase the strength of an electrical signal.^[5]
• 1966 – in genetics, to make many copies of a gene.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make larger or greater in amount, effect or intensity; to augment: The drought amplified the risk of fire.^[12][3][5]
2. To make a sound louder, or to increase the strength of an electrical signal, especially with an amplifier.^[12][3][5]
3. To expand a statement or account by adding details or explanation; also intransitive, to say more on a subject: He was asked to amplify on his earlier remarks.^[12][3][5]
4. (chiefly US) To exaggerate.^[12][5]
5. In genetics, to make many copies of a gene or DNA sequence.^[5]

Word family

• amplifiable
• overamplify

Related words

• ample
• amplification
• amplifier
• amplificatory
• amplitude

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins