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

Height exaggeration is one of the oldest and most well-documented forms of self-inflation. —Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 4 June 2026

There are a number of driving forces behind this excited exaggeration. —Caroline Reid, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026

This description of a county board doing the bidding of county unions is not an exaggeration. —U T Editorial Board, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 May 2026

Not surprisingly, Marx isn’t the only gubernatorial candidate for whom exaggeration and mythologizing are the modus operandi. —Krista Kafer, Denver Post, 28 May 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