Also aggrandisement. [a. Fr. agrandissement (spelt by Cotgr. 1611, aggr-), n. of action f. agrandir: see AGGRANDIZE and -MENT.]
1. The action of aggrandizing or exalting in power, rank or influence; exaltation, advancement.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Aggrandisement, a greatning, inlarging, advancement.
1670. G. H., trans. Hist. Cardinals, II. i. 134. They … give themselves over to the aggrandizement of their Nephews.
1735. Bolingbroke, Lett. Study Hist., ii. (1752), 203 (R.). He had projected the future aggrandisement of France.
1848. Lytton, Harold, ix. 278. Enemies … would encounter Tostig in every scheme for his personal aggrandisement.
2. The state or condition of being aggrandized.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist. (1827), I. Pref. 7. Who looked upon the fall of Jerusalem as their own aggrandisement.
1839. G. P. R. James, Louis XIV., III. 214. That his success and his aggrandizement were intimately united with those of France.
1871. Blackie, Four Phases, i. 7. Utter indifference to worldly aggrandizement.
3. lit. Enlargement, increase in size.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. 305. The aggrandizement within the estuaries far more than compensated the losses on the open coast.
