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

• 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 company clarified that there was no widespread hack, and the rumors likely stemmed from a mix of unrelated security alerts and social media exaggeration. —Gene Marks, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025

That last point is no exaggeration. —Sam Bodrojan, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2025

To say that Pandemic Donuts single-handedly carried a significant portion of Denver through the COVID-19 pandemic would be an exaggeration. —Jonathan Shikes, Denver Post, 22 Aug. 2025

In the Coen brothers’ films, wondrous coincidences and absurd exaggerations come off as a comic cosmic order, as a cynical version of metaphysics. —Richard Brody, New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2025

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