embiggen

Meaning

To enlarge; to make or become bigger.

Opposite of

ensmallen, debigulate, shrink, diminish, belittle, contract

Translations

engrandecer

vergranden

accroître

agrandir

grandir

vergroten

vergrößern

aumentar

engrandecer

agrandar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɪmˈbɪɡən/

Etymology

From em- + biggen or big + em- -en, possibly analogous to belittle. The morphology parallels that of enlarge (en- + large) or embolden (em- + bold + -en).
The verb's first recorded use is in an 1884 edition of the British journal Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc. by C. A. Ward (see quotation below).
The word’s current popularity follows its deployment as an intentionally ungainly form by television writer Dan Greaney for The Simpsons episode “Lisa the Iconoclast” in 1996.