hyperbole

[hahy-pur-buh-lee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hyperbole ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Rhetoric.

obvious and intentional exaggeration.

an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity.”

Compare litotes.

Origin of hyperbole

1520–30; < Greek hyperbolḗ excess, exaggeration, throwing beyond, equivalent to hyper- hyper- + bolḗ throw

Synonyms for hyperbole

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hyperbole ON THESAURUS.COM

2. overstatement.

Antonyms for hyperbole

2. understatement.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for hyperbole

hype, metaphor, overstatement, embellishment, coloring, distortion, enlargement, magnification, amplification, PR

Examples from the Web for hyperbole

Contemporary Examples of hyperbole

Exaggeration and hyperbole are constant campaign companions, as useful and expected as hammers and saws on a construction site.
When Campaign Spin Becomes Fact
Stuart Stevens
March 21, 2014
Pardon the hyperbole, but there has never been a more aptly titled Good Wife episode than “Hitting the Fan.”
In The Good Wife’s Explosive ‘Hitting the Fan,’ That’s Exactly What Happens
Chancellor Agard
October 28, 2013
Film festival reviews are, as is their wont, often prone to hyperbole.
The Stars of ‘Blue is the Warmest Color’ On the Riveting Lesbian Love Story
Marlow Stern
September 1, 2013
Finke, who regularly breaks showbiz news, is the master of hyperbole.
Deadline Hollywood Editor in Chief Nikki Finke’s 8 Greatest Freakouts
Tricia Romano
June 4, 2013
So ignore the hyperbole of the candidates and the hysteria of the partisan commentators.
The Not So Special U.S.-Israel Relationship
Andrew Apostolou
October 29, 2012

Historical Examples of hyperbole

We have here an example of this adventurer's style of exaggeration and hyperbole.
Aztec Land
Maturin M. Ballou
Hyperbole means by definition that which is untrue and incredible.
Epic and Romance
W. P. Ker
I understand now the Western hyperbole of “hitting the high places.”
The Mutiny of the Elsinore
Jack London
The figure of a quiet slumber is no hyperbole, but a sober verity.
Memories of Bethany
John Ross Macduff
The hyperbole is their principal forte, but what is lying but imagination?
Diary in America, Series Two
Frederick Marryat (AKA Captain Marryat)

British Dictionary definitions for hyperbole

hyperbole

noun

a deliberate exaggeration used for effecthe embraced her a thousand times

Derived Formshyperbolism, noun

Word Origin for hyperbole

C16: from Greek: from hyper- + bolē a throw, from ballein to throw

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hyperbole

early 15c., from Latin hyperbole, from Greek hyperbole "exaggeration, extravagance," related to hyperballein "to throw over or beyond," from hyper- "beyond" + bole "a throwing, a casting, the stroke of a missile, bolt, beam," from bol-, nominative stem of ballein "to throw" (see ballistics). Rhetorical sense is found in Aristotle and Isocrates.

hyperbole in Culture

hyperbole

[(heye-pur-buh-lee)]

An exaggerated, extravagant expression. It is hyperbole to say, “I'd give my whole fortune for a bowl of bean soup.”