exaggerate
ex·ag·ger·ate (eg zaj′ər āt′, ig-)
transitive verb exaggerated -·at′ed, exaggerating -·at′·ing
- to think, speak, or write of as greater than is really so; magnify beyond the fact; overstate
- to increase or enlarge to an extreme or abnormal degree; overemphasize; intensify
Etymology: < L exaggeratus, pp. of exaggerare, to increase, exaggerate < ex-, out, up + aggerare, to heap up < agger, a heap < aggerere, to bring toward < ad-, to + gerere, to carry: see gesture
intransitive verb
Related Forms:
- exaggeratedly ex·ag′·ger·at′·ed·ly adverb
- exaggeration ex·ag′·gera′·tion noun
- exaggerative ex·ag′·gera′·tive adjective
- exaggerator ex·ag′·gera′·tor noun
exaggerate
v.
Antonyms
Object
- importance: We are all aware of the marked tendency of human nature to exaggerate the importance of every " find " .
- threat: Why might a newspaper wish to exaggerate a threat, for example?
- significance: He believes that I exaggerate the significance of Wilhelm II's role in initiating the expansion of the German navy in the late 1890s.
- danger: They tend to exaggerate the dangers in their minds.
- difference: Prime Minister: I just wouldn't exaggerate the difference here.
Modifying Another Word
- vastly: They vastly exaggerate their own power to determine the result.
- deliberately: However, the interpretation used in the research paper deliberately exaggerates the health risks.
Used with why or when
- what: Why should inspection officers seek to exaggerate what they have found?
Preposition: in
- order: Creation of cultural landscapes in this way often exaggerates in order to communicate difference.
Like all young men, you greatly exaggerate the difference between one young woman and another.
Browse dictionary entries near exaggerate
- exactor
- exactness
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- exaggerated
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- exalt
- exaltation
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- exaltedly
