exaggerate
Americanverb (used with object)
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exaggerates,
present (3rd person singular)
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exaggerated,
past participle, past
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exaggerating
present participle
verb (used without object)
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exaggerates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
exaggerated,
past participle, past
-
exaggerating
present participle
verb
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to regard or represent as larger or greater, more important or more successful, etc, than is true
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(tr) to make greater, more noticeable, etc, than usual
his new clothes exaggerated his awkwardness
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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exaggerationnoun
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exaggeratornoun
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overexaggerateverb
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exaggerativeadjective
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nonexaggeratingadjective
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unexaggeratingadjective
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exaggeratinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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exaggeratesimple
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exaggeratessimple
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have exaggeratedperfect
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has exaggeratedperfect
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am exaggeratingprogressive
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are exaggeratingprogressive
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is exaggeratingprogressive
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have been exaggeratingperfect progressive
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has been exaggeratingperfect progressive
Past
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exaggeratedsimple
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had exaggeratedperfect
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was exaggeratingprogressive
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were exaggeratingprogressive
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had been exaggeratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of exaggerate
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin exaggerātus “heaped up,” past participle of exaggerāre “to heap up,” from ex- ex- 1 + agger “heap” + -āre, infinitive verb suffix
Explanation
When you exaggerate you stretch the truth. Fishermen tend to exaggerate the size of their fish. And children tend to exaggerate the seriousness of their cuts in order to get cute Band-Aids. We all have a tendency to exaggerate. It makes our stories funnier, or more dramatic. After all, when you exaggerate, you're not really lying — you're just overstating things. The word exaggerate can also suggest that a particular characteristic is overdone or almost larger than life. If you describe someone as having an exaggerated limp, he or she might be walking like a gorilla.
Vocabulary lists containing exaggerate
Tier 2 Words for the SBAC ELA Items
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List 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In climate data, "noise" refers to short-erm temperature changes that can temporarily hide or exaggerate the underlying trend.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
Football quarterbacks sometimes exaggerate hits to sell roughing-the-passer penalties.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
And I think it was interesting to try and find levels to it and to have the audience come with you, but not dramatize or exaggerate an emotion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
This structure could exaggerate overtime claims relative to expectations in two ways.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026
Harry had told me that Bach should be played very softly, and very loudly, to exaggerate the phrasing, because the pieces themselves are so ordered that the emotion needs to come through in the playing.
From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson
One factor reinforcing Block’s motivation for shorting credit is his opinion that there is too much passive investing in the market that automatically exaggerates moves when they come.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 1, 2026
Divided by competing urges to “join in and stand out,” the dandy exaggerates style to the point of satire and social impertinence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026
Tech’s dominance in the S&P 500, with the top 10 stocks comprising 40% of market value, exaggerates the current pullback.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2025
Dr Simon Williams at Swansea University now thinks health authorities have to be clearer about the dangers of some infectious diseases, in the face of online misinformation which often exaggerates the small risk of vaccines.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2025
He exaggerates the word “theater” so that it sounds like thee-a-tah.
From "The Fourteenth Goldfish" by Jennifer L. Holm
Reports of his retirement had been greatly exaggerated.
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
The fairest answer is that he was partly right, for reasons he did not fully understand, and he exaggerated the promise.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
Soprano Elizabeth Novella was a monochromatic Donna Anna, and exaggerated rubato often made her impassioned outbursts sag.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Reports of C.K.’s career death are greatly exaggerated, is what I’m saying.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
Steve says as he makes an exaggerated grumpy face.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
We got in, the car lurched forward and, I’m not exaggerating, less than a block later, the driver stopped the car, jumped out and opened my door.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
“His kind of self-mythologizing and exaggerating is part of what makes his youth so interesting.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
"They've scored 60% of their goals that way," Klopp said of the Gunners - exaggerating for effect.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Some economists question if the pattern is repeating itself, thus exaggerating the improvement in the labor market.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
She was always making things up and exaggerating.
From "Trouble at the Arcade (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #1)" by Franklin W. Dixon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
