hyperbole

an exaggeration used as a figure of speech: That dog’s so ugly its face could stop a clock.

Not to be confused with:

hyperbola – a plane curve having two branches

hy·per·bo·le

(hī-pûr′bə-lē)

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a year or This book weighs a ton.

[Latin hyperbolē, from Greek huperbolē, excess, from huperballein, to exceed : huper, beyond; see hyper- + ballein, to throw; see g^welə- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

hyperbole

(haɪˈpɜːbəlɪ)

(Rhetoric) a deliberate exaggeration used for effect: he embraced her a thousand times.

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

hyˈperbolism n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

hy•per•bo•le

(haɪˈpɜr bə li)

n., pl. -les.

1. obvious and intentional exaggeration.

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

[1520–30; < Greek hyperbolḗ overshooting, excess, n. derivative of hyperbállein to throw beyond, exceed =hyper- hyper- + bállein to throw]

hyperbole

1. an obvious and intentional exaggeration.
2. an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “She’s as big as a house.” Cf. litotes. — hyperbolic, adj.

hyperbole

1. The deliberate use of exaggeration in order to create an effect.

2. Use of exaggeration for emphasis.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

hyperbole - extravagant exaggeration

exaggeration

figure of speech, trope, image, figure - language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense

hyperbole

noun exaggeration, hype (informal), overstatement, enlargement, magnification, amplification The debate was carried on with increasing rhetorical hyperbole.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

hyperbole

noun

The act or an instance of exaggerating:

exaggeration, hyperbolism, overstatement, tall talk.

Translations

nadsázka

hyperbole

hiperbola

гипербола утрирование

hyperbole

[haɪˈpɜːbəlɪ] N → hipérbole f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

hyperbole

[haɪˈpɜː^rbəli] n → hyperbole f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

hyperbole

n (Liter) → Hyperbel f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

hyperbole

[haɪˈpɜːbəlɪ] n → iperbole f

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

It is a strange thing, to note the excess of this passion, and how it braves the nature, and value of things, by this; that the speaking in a perpetual hyperbole, is comely in nothing but in love.

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We ought not, therefore, to condemn the maid of the inn for her hyperbole, who, when she descended, after having lighted the fire, declared, and ratified it with an oath, that if ever there was an angel upon earth, she was now above-stairs.

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I use all the hyperbole of metaphor, and tell what centuries of time and profounds of unthinkable agony and horror can obtain in each interval of all the intervals between the notes of a quick jig played quickly on the piano.

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And yet Colette's was not a hell; it could not come, without vaulting hyperbole, under the rubric of a gilded saloon; and, if it was a sin to go there, the sin was merely local and municipal.

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fancy a man trying to make love on strictly truthful principles, determining never to utter a word of mere compliment or hyperbole, but to scrupulously confine himself to exact fact!

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The great staircase, however, may be termed, without much hyperbole, a feature of grandeur and magnificence.

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"Well," said Good, "to adopt the language of hyperbole, in which all these people seem to indulge, you can tell him that a row is surely good, and warms the cockles of the heart, and that so far as I am concerned I'm his boy.

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Indeed I think it is one among several cities to which an extreme hyperbole has been applied--

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No; to throw the handle after the hatchet is a comprehensible act of desperation, but to throw one's pocket-knife after an implacable friend is clearly in every sense a hyperbole, or throwing beyond the mark.

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Saxon was not nautical enough to appreciate his hyperbole, though Billy grinned.

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In what words shall I describe this dread exploit, by what language shall I make it credible to ages to come, what eulogies are there unmeet for thee, though they be hyperboles piled on hyperboles!

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We pardon his hyperboles for the evident earnestness with which they are uttered.

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