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inflate

/ɪnˈfleɪt//ɪnˈfleɪt/·verb
Animated scene
Fig. 1 — A hose runs from a hand pump to a limp scrap of balloon.
01Definition

To inflate is to fill something with air until it swells — a tyre, a raft, a balloon. From Latin inflāre, 'to blow into', it carries a strong figurative life too: to inflate prices, figures, or a grade is to blow them up beyond their true value, and an inflated ego is a self-importance puffed up with air. The action is deliberate and comes from outside; its clean opposite is to deflate. Its economic noun, inflation, is really this same swelling applied to prices.

02In use
  • iHe inflated the raft with a foot pump before pushing it onto the lake.
  • iiSome firms inflate their earnings to make the company look stronger than it is.
  • iiiAn inflated sense of his own importance made him hard to work with.
03Collocations
  • inflate a balloon
  • inflate prices
  • inflate the figures
  • an inflated ego
  • inflated claims

Family inflation (noun) · inflated (adjective) · inflatable (adjective)

04Relations

=expand, swell, exaggerate, distend, balloon

≠deflate, shrink, diminish

06TOEFL & IELTS

Inflate earns its keep in TOEFL and IELTS through the figurative senses: to inflate prices, figures, results, or claims is to blow them up beyond their true value — precise, slightly critical language for data and academic-integrity tasks. Keep the verb (inflate) apart from the economics noun (inflation). It works both transitively (inflate the figures) and intransitively (the raft inflated), and its clean opposite is deflate.

07Asked
What is the difference between inflate and inflation?
Inflate is the verb — the action of filling with air or making something bigger. Inflation is the noun, most often the economic state of generally rising prices. You inflate a tyre or inflate the figures; inflation is the slow rise in prices over time. Same root, different jobs.
What does it mean to inflate prices or inflate figures?
To raise them dishonestly or beyond their true value — to blow them up bigger than they should be. A seller inflates prices before a 'sale'; a company inflates its figures to look stronger than it is. It is a mildly critical, high-value academic sense, useful for writing about data and honesty.
What is the opposite of inflate?
Deflate — to let the air out, or to bring something back down. You inflate a balloon and later deflate it; prices inflate and then deflate. Figuratively, to deflate someone is to puncture their confidence. The scene above shows the balloon being filled; deflate is that same process run in reverse.
What does an 'inflated ego' or 'inflated sense of self' mean?
An exaggerated, puffed-up self-importance — a view of oneself blown up bigger than the facts warrant. The image is exact: like a balloon over-filled with air, an inflated ego is full of very little that is solid, which is why a single sharp remark can deflate it.
Is inflate transitive or intransitive?
Both. Transitively, you inflate something — inflate a tyre, inflate the figures. Intransitively, a thing inflates on its own — 'prices inflated sharply', 'the raft inflated in seconds'. The air-filling sense is usually transitive; the economic, price-rising sense is often intransitive.
Where does the word inflate come from?
From Latin inflāre, 'to blow into' — in- 'into' plus flāre 'to blow', the same flāre behind 'flatulence' and 'inflation'. The origin is literally breath forced in, which is still exactly what you do to inflate a balloon and the metaphor hiding inside inflated claims.