inflate

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Financial, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

in·flate

(ĭn-flāt′)

v. in·flat·ed, in·flat·ing, in·flates

v.tr.

1. To fill (something) with air or gas so as to make it swell: inflated the balloon with helium.

a. To fill with pride; aggrandize: positive reviews that inflated the actor's ego.

b. To represent as greater or more important than is in fact the case: inflated the box office receipts to mislead the investors. See Synonyms at exaggerate.

3. To cause (a currency or economy) to undergo inflation.

v.intr.

To become inflated.

[Middle English inflaten, from Latin īnflāre, īnflāt- : in-, in; see in-² + flāre, to blow; see bhlē- in Indo-European roots.]

in·fla′tor, in·flat′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

inflate

(ɪnˈfleɪt)

1. to expand or cause to expand by filling with gas or air: she needed to inflate the tyres.

2. (tr) to cause to increase excessively; puff up; swell: to inflate one's opinion of oneself.

3. (Economics) (tr) to cause inflation of (prices, money, etc)

4. (tr) to raise in spirits; elate

5. (Economics) (intr) to undergo economic inflation

[C16: from Latin inflāre to blow into, from flāre to blow]

inˈflatedly adv

inˈflatedness n

inˈflater, inˈflator n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

in•flate

(ɪnˈfleɪt)

v. -flat•ed, -flat•ing. v.t.

1. to distend; swell or puff out; dilate.

2. to expand or distend with air or gas: to inflate a balloon.

3. to puff up with pride, satisfaction, etc.

4. to elate.

5. to increase unduly, as the level of prices or the amount of a currency.

v.i.

6. to become inflated.

[1470–80; < Latin inflāre to blow on or into, puff out =in- in-² + flāre to blow²]

in•flat′er, in•fla′tor, n.

inflate

– blow up

1. 'inflate'

If you inflate something such as a tyre, balloon, or airbed, you fill it full of air or gas.

...a rubber dinghy that took half an hour to inflate.

2. 'blow up'

Inflate is a formal or technical word. In conversation, you usually say that you blow up a tyre, balloon, or airbed.

She blew up the airbed.

She would buy her son a dinghy and a pump to blow it up.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

inflate

Past participle: inflated
Gerund: inflating

Imperative
inflate
inflate

Present
I inflate
you inflate
he/she/it inflates
we inflate
you inflate
they inflate

Preterite
I inflated
you inflated
he/she/it inflated
we inflated
you inflated
they inflated

Present Continuous
I am inflating
you are inflating
he/she/it is inflating
we are inflating
you are inflating
they are inflating

Present Perfect
I have inflated
you have inflated
he/she/it has inflated
we have inflated
you have inflated
they have inflated

Past Continuous
I was inflating
you were inflating
he/she/it was inflating
we were inflating
you were inflating
they were inflating

Past Perfect
I had inflated
you had inflated
he/she/it had inflated
we had inflated
you had inflated
they had inflated

Future
I will inflate
you will inflate
he/she/it will inflate
we will inflate
you will inflate
they will inflate

Future Perfect
I will have inflated
you will have inflated
he/she/it will have inflated
we will have inflated
you will have inflated
they will have inflated

Future Continuous
I will be inflating
you will be inflating
he/she/it will be inflating
we will be inflating
you will be inflating
they will be inflating

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been inflating
you have been inflating
he/she/it has been inflating
we have been inflating
you have been inflating
they have been inflating

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been inflating
you will have been inflating
he/she/it will have been inflating
we will have been inflating
you will have been inflating
they will have been inflating

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been inflating
you had been inflating
he/she/it had been inflating
we had been inflating
you had been inflating
they had been inflating

Conditional
I would inflate
you would inflate
he/she/it would inflate
we would inflate
you would inflate
they would inflate

Past Conditional
I would have inflated
you would have inflated
he/she/it would have inflated
we would have inflated
you would have inflated
they would have inflated

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Verb	1.	inflate - exaggerate or make bigger; "The charges were inflated" amplify, expand, blow up increase - make bigger or more; "The boss finally increased her salary"; "The university increased the number of students it admitted" puff up - make larger or distend; "The estimates were puffed up"
	2.	inflate - fill with gas or air; "inflate a balloons" blow up reflate - inflate again; "reflate the balloon" expand - make bigger or wider in size, volume, or quantity; "expand the house by adding another wing" surge, billow, heave - rise and move, as in waves or billows; "The army surged forward" deflate - become deflated or flaccid, as by losing air; "The balloons deflated"
	3.	inflate - cause prices to rise by increasing the available currency or credit; "The war inflated the economy" alter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue" reflate - economics: raise demand, expand the money supply, or raise prices, after a period of deflation; "These measures reflated the economy" deflate - produce deflation in; "The new measures deflated the economy"
	4.	inflate - increase the amount or availability of, creating a rise in value; "inflate the currency" cut down, reduce, trim back, trim down, cut, cut back, trim, bring down - cut down on; make a reduction in; "reduce your daily fat intake"; "The employer wants to cut back health benefits" deflate - reduce or cut back the amount or availability of, creating a decline in value or prices; "deflate the currency"
	5.	inflate - become inflated; "The sails ballooned" balloon, billow reflate - become inflated again expand - become larger in size or volume or quantity; "his business expanded rapidly"

inflate

verb

1. blow up, pump up, swell, balloon, dilate, distend, aerate, bloat, puff up or out He jumped into the sea and inflated the liferaft.
blow up deflate, contract, collapse, compress

2. increase, boost, expand, enlarge, escalate, amplify Promotion can inflate a film's final cost.
increase shrink, diminish, lessen

3. exaggerate, embroider, embellish, emphasize, enlarge, magnify, overdo, amplify, exalt, overstate, overestimate, overemphasize, blow out of all proportion, aggrandize, hyperbolize Even his war record was fraudulently inflated.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

inflate

verb

To make (something) seem greater than is actually the case:

exaggerate, hyperbolize, magnify, overcharge, overstate.

Idioms: blow up out of proportion, lay it on thick, stretch the truth.

Translations

يَنْفُخ

nafouknout

aufblasen

gonfler hausserdésérialiserenfler

blása upp

gonfiare inflazionare inflazione inflazionistico prezzi gonfiati

infliacijainfliacinisišpūtimaspripučiamaspripūsti

piepūst

opblazen

pumpe opp

napihnitinapolniti z zrakom

hava ile şiş mek

使充气

inflate

[ɪnˈfleɪt]

A. VT

1. [+ tyre, balloon] → inflar, hinchar (Sp) (with de)

2. (fig) [+ prices] → inflar; [+ currency] → provocar la inflación de; [+ report] → exagerar
don't inflate his ego → no le alimentes el ego

B. VI [balloon, tyre] → inflarse, hincharse (Sp)

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

inflate

[ɪnˈfleɪt]

(= blow up) [+ tyre, balloon] → gonfler

(= increase) [+ cost, price] → gonfler

(= exaggerate) [+ description, figures, expectations] → gonfler

vi [inflatable object, life jacket] → se gonfler

inflate

(lit) → aufpumpen; (by mouth) → aufblasen

(Econ) prices, bill → hochtreiben; to inflate the currency → die Inflation anheizen, den Geldumlauf steigern; to inflate the budget (for a project etc) → den Etat aufblähen; (Econ) → inflationäre Haushaltspolitik betreiben

(fig) → steigern, erhöhen; sb’s ego → aufblähen, steigern

(lit) → sich mit Luft füllen

(fig: price) → rapide steigen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

inflate

[ɪnˈfleɪt]

1. vt (tyre, balloon) → gonfiare (fig) (prices, profits) → gonfiare, far salire; (idea, opinion) → esagerare, gonfiare

2. vi (tyre, balloon) → gonfiarsi (fig) (prices, profits) → salire

inflate

(inˈfleit) verb

to blow up or expand (especially a balloon, tyre or lungs with air). He used a bicycle pump to inflate the ball.

inˈflatable adjective

(of eg a cushion, ball etc) that can be filled with air for use. an inflatable beach ball.

inˈflation noun

1. the process of inflating or being inflated.

2. a situation in country's economy where prices and wages keep forcing each other to increase.

inˈflationary adjective

relating to economic inflation.

References in classic literature ?

there are so many great thoughts that do nothing more than the bellows: they inflate, and make emptier than ever.

View in context

Then he would stand and look with all his eyes; and a proud light would flash from them, and his nostrils would inflate like a war-horse's, and I knew he was longing for a brush with them.

View in context

In three months, at most, I shall be at Zanzibar, where I will inflate my balloon, and from that point we shall launch ourselves."

View in context

The tank of soapsuds, and the air-pumps to inflate the bubbles, were out of sight beneath, so that when the bubbles began to grow upon the floor of the platform it really seemed like magic to the people of Oz, who knew nothing about even the common soap-bubbles that our children blow with a penny clay pipe and a basin of soap-and-water.

View in context

Plugged into your vehicle's power source, the unit can inflate up to 115 p.s.i.

Parts Department

This despite there being no voter requirement to inflate anything other than the equalization formula.

It's rhetoric, not fact, to say that public schools lack $1 billion

Available in either a manual inflation version, in which a mechanism activates at the pull of the cord and releases a C[O.sup.2] canister inflating the jacket, or as an automatically inflating model, which will inflate when immersed in water.

LIGHTER LIFE SAVER

Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that four executives in China orchestrated the scheme, which used a variety of methods to inflate revenue, including fake invoices for the sale of feed and purported sales of hogs that didn't exist.

SEC charges China's AgFeed industries with fraud

I came out of church midday to find my car had a soft rear tyre which I attempted to inflate at Tesco filling station to no avail.

My Good Samaritan; FEEDBACK

Yongbing added he can now inflate tubes with people standing on it and he has been told that he has an incredibly healthy lung with an enormous capacity.

Meet the man who can inflate tyres in 20 mins with just his nose!

Indeed a recent survey showed that 67 per cent of men inflate the number of their sex partners.

sex toys cause buzz at bookies; RESULT!

The inflating valve replaces the need for continuous gas flow to inflate the lungs during IPPV by automatically occluding the exit port of the breathing system; gas is directed to the patient during the inspiratory phase of a positive pressure breath and then vented to atmosphere during the expiratory phase.