exaggeration

noun

ex·​ag·​ger·​a·​tion ig-ˌza-jə-ˈrā-shən 

plural exaggerations

: an act or instance of exaggerating something : overstatement of the truth

She told us what happened without exaggeration.

: a statement that exaggerates something

a report filled with exaggerations and outright lies

But it's no exaggeration to say that this car has been one of the major linchpins of the burgeoning Asian hot-rod phenomenon.

—Tony Swan

Scads of fibs, exaggerations and misleading statements have been swept up in the dragnet …

—James Poniewozik

Synonyms

• caricature
• coloring
• elaboration
• embellishment
• embroidering
• embroidery
• hyperbole
• magnification
• overstatement
• padding
• stretching

Examples of exaggeration in a Sentence

their exaggeration was such that a rainstorm became a hurricane

Recent Examples on the Web

On the opposite end of the spectrum, most Republicans, 71 percent, view those statements as exaggerations. —Filip Timotija, The Hill, 12 Dec. 2024

Drake’s stardom is, seemingly in Lamar’s eyes, hollow, built on a foundation of falsehoods, or at least exaggerations, and done without principles. —Hanif Abdurraqib, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024

The timing is no exaggeration, and by all accounts, Watson’s finish of Farrell is the fastest KO in combat sports history. —Brian Mazique, Forbes, 7 Dec. 2024

Waite, a Family Guy writer, posits plenty of amusing observations and wild exaggerations in this breezy gift book about all the undignified, likely, and unlikely ways that one could suddenly get gotten. —Brian Boone, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1565, in the meaning defined above