embiggen

Created by Unknown User (met6), last modified by Unknown User (jmb53) on Nov 20, 2012

Verb To enlarge or expand, Fall 2000. Usually employed to create a contrast with academia. "My professor expects me to embiggen my paper because it’s only three pages." Bound morpheme prefix "em-" (in) plus "big" plus derivational morpheme "-en" (verb maker).Source: Dictionary of Geneseo English, Spring 2001 - Kocher 2006J.Boselli, 2012: Growing obsolete. Only 13% could identify the term.

Comments:

This word was actually coined by a writer on "The Simpsons." Apparently the fictional Springfield town motto is "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man." Perhaps less popular is another word from the same episode: "cromulent" meaning valid or acceptable (based on context, at least.) I didn’t realize that embiggen was so common. Ah, the power of pop culture!

Posted by era6 at Dec 02, 2008 00:38

Based on survey results, 0% of participants could define the word; indicating that the word is obsolete (M Gillanders, A-F, 2019).

Posted by meg23 at Apr 23, 2019 21:39

Document generated by Confluence on May 22, 2023 12:37

Created by Jamie Greene (jmg52) on April 29

Current students of Geneseo institution. Males and females who are currently enrolled.

Comments: Of the students surveyed 93.3% said they had not heard of this word and only 6.7% had heard of it and did not know the definition. Thus this term is not relevent (jmg52, A-F, 2025).

Posted by Jmg52 on April 29, 2025 at 6:08