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exaggeration

UK/ɪɡˌzæd͡ʒəˈɹeɪʃən/US/ɪɡˌzæd͡ʒəˈɹeɪʃən/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,587 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: exaggerations

An exaggeration is a statement that makes something sound greater than it is. A slight exaggeration.

It is not the same as a lie, since the thing is real and only the size is wrong. An exaggeration repeated often enough stops being noticed as one.

Richard Newton, Published by W. Holland, Oxford St. · Public domain

Definitions of exaggeration

  1. 1nounexaggerationA statement that makes something sound greater than it is.B2+

    “To call it a crisis was an exaggeration and everybody used the word.”

exaggeration is a statement.

Where it comes from

  1. Latin

    exaggerātiō

  2. English, today

    exaggeration

Borrowed from Latin exaggerātiō.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

exaggeration in the wild

  • The lion head may be an exaggeration of their heavily bearded head.

    Kimpurusha kingdom

  • In the arts, exaggerations are used to create emphasis or effect.

    Exaggeration

  • As a literary device, exaggerations are often used in poetry, and is frequently encountered in casual speech.

    Exaggeration

  • Historical sources suggest that the death toll may have been as high as 20,000, although modern scholars suggest that this figure is likely an exaggeration.

    464 BC Sparta earthquake

  • The production of exaggeration postcards slowly died out after that point, with some lasting until the 1960s.

    Exaggeration postcard

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.