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

Without exaggeration, no single other sports accessory has become such a permanent fixture of everyday style. — Joan Kennedy, Vogue, 30 Oct. 2026

The students maintain that the conversations consisted largely of deliberately provocative jokes, internet memes and political exaggerations that were never intended as genuine threats. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2026

Their claim of having been on the road for 50 years is not an exaggeration. — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 29 Oct. 2026

Maybe not laugh-out-loud humor, though that’s there, but other forms of humor like wit, deadpan, understatement, exaggeration, recognition, irony. — Cressida Leyshon, New Yorker, 25 Oct. 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