hyperbole
[ hahy-pur-buh-lee ]
/ haɪˈpɜr bə li /
noun Rhetoric.
obvious and intentional exaggeration.
an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity.”
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RELATED WORDS
hype, metaphor, overstatement, embellishment, coloring, distortion, enlargement, magnification, amplification, PR
Nearby words
- hyperbarism,
- hyperbaton,
- hyperbetalipoproteinemia,
- hyperbilirubinemia,
- hyperbola,
- hyperbolic,
- hyperbolic function,
- hyperbolic geometry,
- hyperbolic paraboloid,
- hyperbolism
Compare litotes.
Origin of hyperbole
1520–30; < Greek hyperbolḗ excess, exaggeration, throwing beyond, equivalent to hyper- hyper- + bolḗ throw
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for hyperbole
hyperbole
/ (haɪˈpɜːbəlɪ) /
noun
a deliberate exaggeration used for effecthe embraced her a thousand times
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
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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.