Library / English Dictionary

INFLATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become inflated

Example:

The sails ballooned

Synonyms:

balloon; billow; inflate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "inflate" is one way to...):

expand (become larger in size or volume or quantity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "inflate"):

reflate (become inflated again)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

inflation (the act of filling something with air)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fill with gas or air

Example:

inflate a balloons

Synonyms:

blow up; inflate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "inflate" is one way to...):

expand (make bigger or wider in size, volume, or quantity)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "inflate"):

reflate (inflate again)

billow; heave; surge (rise and move, as in waves or billows)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

deflate (become deflated or flaccid, as by losing air)

Derivation:

inflatable (designed to be filled with air or gas)

inflater (an air pump operated by hand to inflate something (as a tire))

inflation (the act of filling something with air)

inflator (an air pump operated by hand to inflate something (as a tire))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Exaggerate or make bigger

Example:

The charges were inflated

Synonyms:

amplify; blow up; expand; inflate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "inflate" is one way to...):

increase (make bigger or more)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "inflate"):

puff up (make larger or distend)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Increase the amount or availability of, creating a rise in value

Example:

inflate the currency

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "inflate" is one way to...):

bring down; cut; cut back; cut down; reduce; trim; trim back; trim down (cut down on; make a reduction in)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody

Antonym:

deflate (reduce or cut back the amount or availability of, creating a decline in value or prices)

Derivation:

inflation (a general and progressive increase in prices)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Cause prices to rise by increasing the available currency or credit

Example:

The war inflated the economy

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "inflate" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "inflate"):

reflate (economics: raise demand, expand the money supply, or raise prices, after a period of deflation)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Antonym:

deflate (produce deflation in)

Derivation:

inflation (a general and progressive increase in prices)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Dilation of the valve between the left ventricle of the heart and the aorta by inflating a balloon.

(Aortic Balloon Valvotomy, NCI Thesaurus/ACC)

A balloon on the bladder end is inflated (with air or fluid) so that the catheter cannot pull out but is retained in the bladder as an "indwelling" catheter.

(Foley Catheter, NCI Thesaurus)

The inside tube, which is an endoscope with a light and lens for viewing, is moved through part of the small intestine, and a balloon at the end of it is inflated to keep the endoscope in place.

(DBE, NCI Dictionary)

She was received by the Allens with all the kindness which her unlooked-for appearance, acting on a steady affection, would naturally call forth; and great was their surprise, and warm their displeasure, on hearing how she had been treated—though Mrs. Morland's account of it was no inflated representation, no studied appeal to their passions.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

She had Roman features and a double chin, disappearing into a throat like a pillar: these features appeared to me not only inflated and darkened, but even furrowed with pride; and the chin was sustained by the same principle, in a position of almost preternatural erectness.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Next, the outer tube is moved through the small intestine to reach the end of the endoscope, and a balloon at the end of the outer tube is inflated to keep it in place.

(DBE, NCI Dictionary)

My own reading of the situation for what it is worth— he inflated his chest enormously and looked insolently around him at the words—is that evolution has advanced under the peculiar conditions of this country up to the vertebrate stage, the old types surviving and living on in company with the newer ones.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)