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 day of what is without exaggeration being called the most consequential election of our time, ignoring political news in favor of watching an antique cheese slicer being restored may seem frivolous. —Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2024

The broadcast also left out Trump’s gross exaggerations about crime in Aurora, Colorado. —Brian Stelter, CNN, 24 Oct. 2024

Superlatives are overused in these days of exaggeration, but in this case, my nonsense detector didn’t register a blip. —Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2024

Trump took a shot at Walz’s exaggerations during Thursday night’s Al Smith dinner, joking about how Walz and Harris were not present. —Haisten Willis, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 19 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1565, in the meaning defined above