amplificatory

Amplificatory is an adjective describing something that serves to amplify, enlarge, or intensify. The term is derived from Latin amplificare, meaning to enlarge; in English it is used primarily in technical or scholarly contexts to designate mechanisms, processes, or devices whose purpose is to increase quantity, amplitude, or strength.

In rhetoric and linguistics, amplificatory refers to devices or constructions that intensify a statement's force. This includes repetition, gradation, and hyperbole, or the use of amplifying modifiers. The term may also describe discourse phenomena that scale up perceived intensity or emphasis.

In science and engineering, the word often describes methods that increase a signal or amount. In electronics, an amplificatory stage or circuit uses an amplifier to raise voltage, current, or power. In molecular biology, amplificatory techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and rolling circle amplification increase the quantity of nucleic acids to detectable levels.

Because amplificatory is not as common in everyday speech, it tends to appear in formal, technical writing as a precise descriptor of the role of amplification in a system, mechanism, or argument. Related concepts include amplification, amplifiers, and amplifying processes, which cover similar ideas across different disciplines.