exaggerate
Formsexaggerates, exaggerating, exaggerated
Formsexaggerates, exaggerating, exaggerated
- 1To overstate something, describing it as greater or more extreme than the facts support.
Like a rumor that grows larger each time it is passed along.
Politicians often exaggerate their opponents' failures during campaigns.
The brochure exaggerated the resort's amenities, which disappointed many guests.
Similaroverstate, hyperbolize, stretch
Oppositeunderstate, downplay, belittle, trivialize
Note
The image behind the word is a heap. Latin exaggerare meant "to heap up," built on agger, a pile or mound, and to exaggerate is still to pile a claim higher than the facts stand. It works with or without an object (he's exaggerating; they exaggerated the study). Its opposites, understate and downplay, shrink a claim instead of heaping it.
Less common meaning
- 2Overstated or overdone, going further than the facts or the situation justify.
And in general, if it is a natural feeling, let it be, but at normal, living levels, not too exaggerate.
1901, Valentin Matcas, The Human Addictions
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Origin
Borrowed from Latin exaggerātus, the past participle of exaggerō ('to heap up, enlarge, magnify, exaggerate'), formed from ex- ('out, up') plus aggerō ('to heap up'). This in turn derives from agger ('a pile, heap, mound') and ultimately from ad- ('to, toward') plus gerō ('to carry').