hyperbole
UK /haɪˈpɜːbəli/ · US /haɪˈpɝbəli/ noun
Forms hyperboles
- noun (uncountable, rhetoric, literature) Deliberate overstatement, particularly extreme overstatement.
- noun (countable) An instance or example of such overstatement.
- noun (countable, geometry, obsolete) A hyperbola.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English iperbole, yperbole, from Latin hyperbolē, from Ancient Greek ὑπερβολή (huperbolḗ, “excess, exaggeration”), from ὑπέρ (hupér, “above”) + βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-). Doublet of hyperbola.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A figure of speech in which the expression is an evident exaggeration of the meaning intended to be conveyed, or by which things are represented as much greater or less, better or worse, than they really are; a statement exaggerated fancifully, through excitement, or for effect.
Etymology [L., fr. GrHyper-, Parable, and cf. Hyperbola.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hyperbole”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details