exaggeration

[ ig-zaj-uh-rey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act of exaggerating or overstating.
2. an instance of exaggerating; an overstatement:

   His statement concerning the size of his income is a gross exaggeration.

Other Words From

• nonex·agger·ation noun
• over·ex·agger·ation noun
• self-ex·agger·ation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of exaggeration¹

1555–65; < Latin exaggerātiōn- (stem of exaggerātiō ), equivalent to exaggerāt ( us ) ( exaggerate ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

Some of Trump’s newly revealed appointments suggest that the president-elect’s campaign promise to deport millions of undocumented migrants living in the US is no exaggeration.

From BBC

It might sound like an exaggeration, but it's not: Salon has been covering the news and stakes of this election since 2021.

From Salon

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.

From Los Angeles Times

It’s no exaggeration to say that would have been a huge loss.

From BBC

Watson was the most charismatic leader of the late-19th-century political thunderclap that came to be known as American populism, and his story resonates with the full promise and peril of the American project—he can be understood without exaggeration as the heroic scion of the Boston Tea Party and the fevered progenitor of Donald Trump’s violent fantasies.

From Slate

Related Words

• baloney
• excess
• fabrication
• falsehood
• fantasy
• hyperbole
• misjudgment
• misrepresentation
• untruth