Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To fill (something) with air or gas so as to make it swell.
  • intransitive verb To fill with pride; aggrandize.
  • intransitive verb To represent as greater or more important than is in fact the case: synonym: exaggerate.
  • intransitive verb To cause (a currency or economy) to undergo inflation.
  • intransitive verb To become inflated.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To swell or distend by inhaling or injecting air or gas; distend in any manner: as, to infiate the lungs, a bladder, or a balloon.
  • To swell or extend unduly; expand beyond proper or natural limits; raise above the just amount or value: as, to infiate the currency or prices; to inflate the market (that is, the price of marketable commodities, as stocks).
  • To puff out or up; make swollen or turgid.
  • To puff up; elate: as, to inflate one with pride or self-importance.
  • Inflated.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Blown in; inflated.
  • intransitive verb To expand; to fill; to distend.
  • transitive verb To swell or distend with air or gas; to dilate; to expand; to enlarge
  • transitive verb Fig.: To swell; to puff up; to elate.
  • transitive verb To cause to become unduly expanded or increased.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To enlarge an object by pushing air (or a gas) into it; to raise or expand abnormally
  • verb intransitive To enlarge by filling with air (or a gas).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb increase the amount or availability of, creating a rise in value
  • verb become inflated
  • verb fill with gas or air
  • verb cause prices to rise by increasing the available currency or credit
  • verb exaggerate or make bigger

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English inflaten, from Latin īnflāre, īnflāt- : in-, in; see in– + flāre, to blow; see bhlē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin īnflātus, from the verb īnflō.

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