exaggerate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
-
to regard or represent as larger or greater, more important or more successful, etc, than is true
-
(tr) to make greater, more noticeable, etc, than usual
his new clothes exaggerated his awkwardness
Other Word Forms
- exaggeratingly adverb
- exaggeration noun
- exaggerative adjective
- exaggerator noun
- nonexaggerating adjective
- overexaggerate verb
- unexaggerating adjective
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
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.
While a political gap between men and women does exist, it is often exaggerated, and fear of embarrassment and constant comparison play a much larger role in holding people back.
While he found that “predictions of American decline, at least in the realm of new technologies, are vastly exaggerated,” he also determined that the U.S. no longer reigns unchallenged.
Orders for durable goods jumped 5.3% in the month, but the increase was exaggerated by new contracts for passenger planes.
From MarketWatch
You can’t exaggerate how important television was in the making of this man, and I don’t mean “The Apprentice,” I mean those old movies.
Part of the growth was exaggerated by consumers and businesses speeding up purchases of imported goods to skirt higher U.S. tariffs.
From MarketWatch
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.
