exaggeration

noun

ex·​ag·​ger·​a·​tion ig-ˌza-jə-ˈrā-shən 

plural exaggerations

: an act or instance of exaggerating something : overstatement of the truth

She told us what happened without exaggeration.

: a statement that exaggerates something

a report filled with exaggerations and outright lies

But it's no exaggeration to say that this car has been one of the major linchpins of the burgeoning Asian hot-rod phenomenon.

—Tony Swan

Scads of fibs, exaggerations and misleading statements have been swept up in the dragnet …

—James Poniewozik

Synonyms of exaggeration

• caricature
• hyperbole
• stretching
• enhancement
• overstatement
• coloring

Examples of exaggeration in a Sentence

their exaggeration was such that a rainstorm became a hurricane

Recent Examples on the Web

The lurch from declaring fears about Iran to be mere media exaggerations to invoking imminent threat, from demanding the Nobel Peace Prize to luxuriating in lethality, is the essence of the autocrat’s monopoly on unpredictability. —Fintan O’Toole, The New York Review of Books, 9 Apr. 2026

With lush tropical shores that melt away into white sands and tranquil waves, Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands is beautiful enough for billionaires, and that's no exaggeration. —Carley Rojas Avila, Travel + Leisure, 6 Apr. 2026

The team has specifically and methodically combed through Moore’s previous statements point by point to expose any potential lie or exaggeration. —Max Tani, semafor.com, 6 Apr. 2026

This, and jokes like it, transcend absurd exaggeration to achieve something much closer to magical realism. —Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 30 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1565, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for exaggeration

• abbreviation
• abomination
• acceleration
• accentuation
• accommodation
• accreditation
• acculturation
• accumulation
• acetylation
• adjudication
• administration
• adulteration