förstorad

Förstorad is a Swedish adjective and past participle derived from the verb förstora, meaning to enlarge, magnify, or exaggerate. In everyday language it describes something that has been made larger than its original size. When used with nouns, it commonly appears in attributive position, for example en förstorad bild, ett förstorad? No, neuter: ett förstorat foto, flera förstorade kartor. The form adapts to gender and number: en förstorad bild, ett förstorat foto, förstorade bilder.

The primary senses are both literal and figurative. Literally, förstorad refers to enlarged images or objects in fields such as photography, printing, microscopy, and optics. In these contexts an image or specimen is scaled up for closer inspection. Figuratively, the term can describe descriptions or depictions that are presented as larger or more dramatic than they actually are, i.e., an exaggerated or overblown portrayal.

In practice, förstorad is used across various domains. In medicine and biology one might speak of en förstorad prostata or en förstorad lymfkörtel to indicate enlargement of a structure. In media and discourse it can convey that a phenomenon has been blown out of proportion.

Etymology and morphology: the word is formed from för- (a prefix meaning ‘for‑’ or ‘more’) and stor, ‘big,’ with the past participle endings -ad or -at to agree with gender and number. This yields: förstorad (en‑ord), förstorat (ett‑ord), and plural förstorade.