inflate
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to make something seem more important, better, or worse than it really is.
to represent something in an exaggerated manner; to puff up or swell beyond natural or justified limits.
Simple“He tended to inflate his achievements whenever he went on a first date.”
In context“Critics argued that the company's marketing department deliberately sought to inflate the product's capabilities to justify the premium price tag.”
SynonymsAntonymsunderstateplay down - 02 C1 Advanced
to increase the amount of money in use, which usually makes prices go up.
to increase the volume of available currency or credit, thereby causing a rise in the general price level.
Simple“Printing too much money can inflate the economy and hurt people's savings.”
In context“The central bank's decision to lower interest rates was intended to stimulate growth, though some feared it would eventually inflate the housing market.”
SynonymsdevalueboostAntonymsdeflate - 03 C1 Advanced
to return compressed data back to its original size so it can be used.
to decompress a data stream or file that has been previously reduced in size using a compression algorithm.
Simple“The software needs to inflate the files before the installation can continue.”
In context“The application uses a specific library to inflate the incoming data packets in real-time without significant latency.”
From Latin īnflātus, perfect passive participle of īnflō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of inblow.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.