puff up
Expand with air
To puff up is to swell or inflate—literally with air or figuratively with pride or importance.
Bread dough puffs up as it rises.
A puffer fish puffs up when threatened.
Someone puffed up with their own importance has an inflated sense of self-worth: He was all puffed up after the promotion.
The phrase often carries a note of criticism, suggesting vanity or pretension.
Represent as greater
- embellishAdd decorative elements
- inflateFill with gas
- magnifyIncrease perceived size
- amplifyIncrease in strength
aggrandize · dramatize · overplay · hyperbolize · embroider · enhance · overemphasize · stretch
balloon
Inflatable rubber sac
distend · bulge · billow · blow · pump · aerate · inflate · enlarge · dilate · pneumatic
overstate
Represent as greater
amplify · aggrandize · dramatize · overplay · hyperbolize · embroider · enhance · overemphasize · stretch · overestimate
strut
Proud, showy gait
brag · gloat · peacock · posture · chest out · show off · self-importance · vanity · ego · conceit
edema
Pathological tissue puffiness
- swollenAbnormally enlarged
- inflammationProtective tissue response
- tumescentGrowing distended
engorge · allergic · irritation · blister · hives · reaction · redness · tender · fluid · retention
- lay it on thickexaggerate, overstate, embellish, overact, dramatize
- growthgrowth, grow, growing, growth rate, increase
- deceptionlie, lies, lying, fake, fraud
- arrogancearrogant, conceited, pompous, vain, haughty
- exaggerateoverstate, amplify, magnify, embellish, inflate
- posture expressionsslouch, slump, hunch, stoop, stand tall
puff uphumble
Unassuming about oneself
deflate · bring down a peg · take down a notch · cut down to size · take down a peg
up, puff, puffy, puffed, puffing, puffed up, puffery, puffer, puffiness