exaggerate
/ɛɡˈzæd͡ʒ.ə.ɹeɪt/ verb, adjective
Forms exaggerates exaggerating exaggerated
- verb To overstate, to describe more than the fact. “I've told you a billion times not to exaggerate!”
- adjective Exaggerative; overblown.
Synonyms
big up overexaggerate overstate hyperbolize stretch overcharge cut it fat overdo overemphasize play up three-sheet overdraw hyperbolise magnify amplify
Antonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin exaggerātus, perfect passive participle of exaggerō (“to heap up, increase, enlarge, magnify, amplify, exaggerate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex- (“out, up”) + aggerō, aggerāre (“to heap up”), from agger (“a pile, heap, mound, dike, mole, pier, etc.”), from aggerō, aggerere (“to bear, carry to (some place), bring together”), from ad- (“to, toward”) + gerō (“to carry”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To heap up; to accumulate. [Obs.] "Earth exaggerated upon them [oaks and firs]." Sir M. Hale.
- verb To amplify; to magnify; to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth ; to delineate extravagantly ; to overstate the truth concerning.
Etymology [L. exaggeratus , p. p. of exaggerare to heap up; ex out + aggerare to heap up, fr. agger heap, aggerere to bring to; ad to + gerere to bear. See Jest.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “exaggerate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details