noun ·4 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An exaggeration; a statement in excess of what is reasonable. countable, uncountable

   "The story he gave was something of an overstatement of the facts."

2. 2
   making to seem more important than it really is wordnet
3. 3
   The tendency to overstate. countable, uncountable

   "She had a knack for overstatement."

Synonyms

All synonyms

exaggerationamplificationballyhoobig talkburlesquecaricature

Antonyms

All antonyms

meiosisunderstatement

Example

More examples

"Saying that place was sterile would be a bit of an overstatement."

Etymology

From overstate + -ment or over- + statement.

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