Library / English Dictionary

EXAGGERATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

To enlarge beyond bounds or the truth

Example:

tended to romanticize and exaggerate this 'gracious Old South' imagery

Synonyms:

amplify; exaggerate; hyperbolise; hyperbolize; magnify; overdraw; overstate

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "exaggerate" is one way to...):

misinform; mislead (give false or misleading information to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "exaggerate"):

overemphasise; overemphasize; overstress (place special or excessive emphasis on)

blow; bluster; boast; brag; gas; gasconade; shoot a line; swash; tout; vaunt (show off)

aggrandise; aggrandize; blow up; dramatise; dramatize; embellish; embroider; lard; pad (add details to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

exaggeration (the act of making something more noticeable than usual)

exaggeration (making to seem more important than it really is)

exaggeration (extravagant exaggeration)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Do something to an excessive degree

Example:

He overdid it last night when he did 100 pushups

Synonyms:

exaggerate; overdo

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "exaggerate" is one way to...):

do; make (engage in)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "exaggerate"):

overpraise (praise excessively)

oversimplify (simplify to an excessive degree)

overleap (defeat (oneself) by going too far)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

exaggeration (the act of making something more noticeable than usual)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The scientist characterized how waves resonate throughout the bridge, causing small movements that, when exaggerated, look like wobbles on a plate of gelatin.

(Song of the red rock arches, National Science Foundation)

But I hope your friend's accounts have been exaggerated; and if such a design is known beforehand, proper measures will undoubtedly be taken by government to prevent its coming to effect.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

"Don't mention it," Messner broke in with exaggerated cordiality of voice and manner.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I know I do not exaggerate, unconsciously and unintentionally, the scantiness of my resources or the difficulties of my life.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Both Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Say whatever your memory suggests is true; but add nothing and exaggerate nothing.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

An exaggerated feeling of well-being which is disproportionate to events and stimuli.

(Euphoria, NCI Thesaurus)

A deficiency or abnormality of a blood coagulation factor characterized by the tendency to spontaneous or exaggerated post-traumatic hemorrhage, Hemophilia is typically a hereditary disorder but, rarely, may be acquired.

(Hemophilia, NCI Thesaurus)

The importance of this to Dr. J. can hardly be exaggerated.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A disorder characterized by an exaggerated feeling of well-being which is disproportionate to events and stimuli.

(Euphoria, NCI Thesaurus/CTCAE)