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

And half the conference isn't an exaggeration, considering Sankey's prior remarks. —Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 14 May 2026

Some of the claims were an exaggeration. —ABC News, 13 May 2026

Criminologists point out that society can create a narrative — whether based on reality or an exaggeration of it — that dominates culture and surpasses the motives of one person. —Lorena O’Neil, Rolling Stone, 11 May 2026

Roseberry’s work privileges spectacle—volume, gold, anatomical exaggeration—where Schiaparelli’s shock lay in wit and displacement. —Literary Hub, 11 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