noun
hyperbole
hy-PUR-buh-lee/haɪˈpɜːrbəli/
Deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or effect.
The fisherman's enormous hand gesture turns his tiny catch into hyperbole.
Etymology
The literal image is a “throwing beyond.” In rhetoric, a statement goes beyond the truth or ordinary measure to make its point emphatically.
In context
either loaded language which is emotionally charged kind of words that make you stop and go that's not quite matching up with what you're talking about or just straight up hyperbole which is extreme exaggeration
More examples
- The speech relied on hyperbole for comic effect.
- She recognized the claim as hyperbole rather than a literal measurement.
- The poet used hyperbole to emphasize longing.
Forms
hyperbole
hyperbolic adjective — using deliberate exaggeration
Similar words
- exaggeration
- Exaggeration is general; hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration used rhetorically.
- understatement
- Understatement deliberately minimizes; hyperbole magnifies.