exaggerate Hear it!

exaggerate Definition

ex·ag·ger·ate (eg zaj′ər āt′, ig-)

transitive verb exaggerated -·at′ed, exaggerating -·at′·ing

  1. to think, speak, or write of as greater than is really so; magnify beyond the fact; overstate
  2. 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

to give an exaggerated description or account

Related Forms:

exaggerate Synonyms

exaggerate

v.

overdraw, overstate, embellish, embroider, misrepresent, falsify, magnify, inflate, expand, amplify, heighten, intensify, distort, enlarge on, stretch, stretch the truth, overemphasize, hyperbolize, go to extremes, give color to, elaborate, romance, romanticize, color, pretty up, make too much of, build up, blow up, overdo, overreach, overcolor, lie, fabricate, misquote, misreport, caricature, burlesque, overestimate, overcharge, draw the longbow*, paint in glowing colors*, sling the bull*, carry too far*, lay it on*, lay it on thick*, lay it on with a trowel*, make a mountain out of a molehill*, play up*, make a big deal of*, blow up out of all proportion*.

Antonyms understate, tell the truth, minimize.

exaggerate Usage Examples

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.
exaggerate Quotes

Like all young men, you greatly exaggerate the difference between one young woman and another.

—Shaw, George Bernard

Browse dictionary entries near exaggerate

  1. ‹ exactor
  2. ‹ exactness
  3. ‹ exactly
  4. ‹ exactitude
  5. ‹ exaction
  6. ‹ exactingly
  7. ‹ exacting
  8. ‹ exacter
  9. ‹ exactable
  10. ‹ exacta
  1. exaggerated ›
  2. exaggeratedly ›
  3. exaggerating ›
  4. exaggeration ›
  5. exaggerative ›
  6. exaggerator ›
  7. exalt ›
  8. exaltation ›
  9. exalted ›
  10. exaltedly ›