Exaggerate

//ɛɡˈzæd͡ʒ.ə.ɹeɪt// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To overstate, to describe more than the fact.

    "I've told you a billion times not to exaggerate!"

  2. 2
    to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth wordnet
  3. 3
    do something to an excessive degree wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Exaggerative; overblown.

    "And in general, if it is a natural feeling, let it be, but at normal, living levels, not too exaggerate."

Synonyms

All synonyms
hyperbolizeoverstateoverstateoverdooverdobig up

Example

More examples

"It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of education."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin exaggerātus, perfect passive participle of exaggerō (“to heap up, increase, enlarge, magnify, amplify, exaggerate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex- (“out, up”) + aggerō, aggerāre (“to heap up”), from agger (“a pile, heap, mound, dike, mole, pier, etc.”), from aggerō, aggerere (“to bear, carry to (some place), bring together”), from ad- (“to, toward”) + gerō (“to carry”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.