exaggeration
Americannoun
-
exaggerations
plural
-
the act of exaggerating or overstating.
-
an instance of exaggerating; an overstatement.
His statement concerning the size of his income is a gross exaggeration.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of exaggeration
1555–65; < Latin exaggerātiōn- (stem of exaggerātiō ), equivalent to exaggerāt ( us ) ( see exaggerate) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
If you're prone to exaggeration, it means you habitually overstate the truth. If you have a dog and a hamster, it would be an exaggeration to describe yourself as "practically Doctor Dolittle," living in a house full of animals. When you make something showier, or more noticeable than normal, that's also called exaggeration. The exaggeration of your hand movements might be necessary on stage so the audience can see them, but in real life it just looks silly. Exaggeration comes from the Latin word exaggerare, which means to magnify or to heap or pile on.
Vocabulary lists containing exaggeration
AP English Lit exam terms
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Essential Literary Terms
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Theodore Roosevelt on "The Man with the Muck Rake" (1906)
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
The available data says the organizational response is at best a huge exaggeration of the rank and file’s view.
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2026
It can’t be an exaggeration to say that tens of millions are grieving her death.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
The building, as he observes with only a little exaggeration, “houses not just the government but the American psyche.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
My general note is particular to the genre: Comedy works best when exaggeration arises the way it does in nature, as a fact of personality rather than as a calculated theatrical effect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
But still, it is no exaggeration to say that C.P. had been profoundly moved by the experience and even changed by it—although he himself could not have said how.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Strauss regularly goes off the rails in his exaggerations, but with Dudamel there are no railing critics or anything thing else, not that he doesn’t have cause.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
It was one of several exaggerations throughout the wide-ranging interview.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
Immergut found Oregon far more believable, dismissing many of the government’s assertions as exaggerations or worse.
From Slate ● Nov. 15, 2025
Such exaggerations of scale—both up and down, but mostly up—are a key dynamic in the V&R vision.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2025
To be sure, some researchers have vigorously attacked the new findings as wild exaggerations.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
