To aggrandize someone (or something) is to enhance their power, wealth, position, or reputation. Aggrandize can also mean "to increase or enlarge" or "to praise highly."
// Critics of the book argue that the author aggrandizes corrupt politicians.
Watershed, used figuratively, refers to a crucial dividing point, line, or factor. Used literally, the word may refer to a ridge from which rivers drain on either side, or to the area of land that includes a particular river or lake and all the rivers, streams, etc. that flow into it. : a crucial dividing point, line, or factor
// The protests marked a watershed in the nation’s history.
// The Continental Divide is the most well known watershed in the United States.
When we describe something, such as data, as empirical, we mean that it originated in, or was based on, observation or experience. Empirical can also be used to describe something that can be verified or disproved by observation or experiment, as in “empirical laws.”
// The team of conservation biologists has over the years collected reams of empirical data, from species inventories to soil analyses.
A patina is a usually green film that forms on copper and bronze that is exposed to moist air for an extended time. The word patina can also refer to a shiny or dark surface that over time forms naturally on something (such as wood or leather), or to a literal or figurative thin layer.
// The town erected a statue in her honor, which over the years developed a seafoam green patina.
// Although the winery is brand-new, it has been constructed and decorated to give it a patina of old-world quaintness.
A person who is loath to do something is unwilling or reluctant to do that thing.
// Proud of the company he had built, Henry was loath to admit that it was time to think about retiring.
Stigma refers to a set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something.
// The organization is animated by a commitment to challenging stigmas associated with the condition.