inflate
/in'fleit/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb (transitive):
- To fill something with air or gas until it expands: To cause something to become larger by forcing air or another gas into it.
- To increase something artificially or excessively: To cause something, especially prices, costs, or statistics, to become larger than is normal, reasonable, or justified.
- To cause economic inflation: To increase the amount of money in circulation, leading to a general rise in prices and a fall in the purchasing value of money.
Verb (intransitive):
- To become filled with air or gas and expand: To increase in size or volume as a result of being filled with air or gas.
- To undergo economic inflation: For prices or an economy to rise due to an increase in the money supply or credit.
Examples of Usage
Verb (transitive):
- You need to inflate the tires before our trip.
- The company was accused of using misleading ads to inflate its sales figures.
- Printing too much money can inflate the currency and cause hyperinflation.
Verb (intransitive):
- The life raft will inflate automatically when it hits the water.
- Prices began to inflate rapidly during the economic crisis.
Advanced Usage
"to inflate one's ego/importance": To make someone feel more important or talented than they really are.
- Constant praise from his fans began to inflate his ego.
"to inflate a bubble": To cause an unsustainable increase in the price or value of an asset (like housing or stocks).
- Speculative investments inflated the real estate bubble.
Variants and Related Words
Inflatable (adj): Designed to be filled with air.
- We brought an inflatable mattress for the guests.
Inflation (n): The general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money; the action of inflating something.
- The government is trying to control inflation.
Inflated (adj): Exaggerated; filled with air.
- He has an inflated sense of his own abilities.
- The inflated balloon floated away.
Synonyms
- Expand: To increase in size, volume, or quantity.
- Swell: To become larger or rounder in size, typically as a result of an accumulation of fluid or air.
- Exaggerate: To represent something as being larger, better, or worse than it really is.
- Pump up: To inflate with air using a pump; to increase or exaggerate.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Inflate with: To fill something using a specific substance (often air, gas, or pride).
- She inflated the balloon with helium.
Related Idioms
- Inflate like a balloon: To swell or expand very quickly and noticeably.
- His cheeks inflated like a balloon as he blew into the trumpet.
Verb
- become inflated
- The sails ballooned
- increase the amount or availability of, creating a rise in value
- inflate the currency
- cause prices to rise by increasing the available currency or credit
- The war inflated the economy
- fill with gas or air
- inflate a balloons
- exaggerate or make bigger
- The charges were inflated