embiggen
Verb
- To enlarge; to make or become bigger.
Origin / 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 David X. Cohen for The Simpsons episode “Lisa the Iconoclast” in 1996.
Synonyms
aggrandize, bigger#Verb, enlarge, grow, magnify, swell
Scrabble Score: 14
embiggen: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordembiggen: not valid in Scrabble (MW) Merriam-Webster Dictionary
embiggen: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary