hyperbole

noun

hy·per·bo·le hī-ˈpər-bə-(ˌ)lē

: extravagant exaggeration (such as "mile-high ice-cream cones")

hyperbolist

hī-ˈpər-bə-list

noun

Did you know?

In the 5th century B.C.E. there was a rabble-rousing Athenian politician named Hyperbolus. Since Hyperbolus is known to history as a demagogue, i.e. “a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power,” one might be tempted to assume that his name played a role in the development of the modern English word hyperbole, but that's not the case. Although that noun does come to us from Greek (by way of Latin), it does so instead from the Greek verb hyperballein, meaning “to exceed,” which itself was formed from hyper-, meaning “beyond,” and ballein, “to throw.” Hyperbolus may have preferred to take the undeserved credit, of course.

Did you know?

How is hyperbole pronounced—and why?

This word doesn't behave the way we expect a word that's spelled this way to behave. It begins with the prefix hyper-, which we know in words like hyperlink (and in the adjective hyper itself), but instead of having the accent, or emphasis, on the first syllable—HYE-per-link—it has the accent on the second syllable: hye-PER-buh-lee. And then there's that bole. It should sound just like the word bowl, right? Nope. Instead it's two syllables: \buh-lee\ .

The word comes to English directly from Latin, but the Latin word is from a Greek word that has one crucial visual difference. It has a line, called a macron, over the final e: hyperbolē. The macron tells us that the vowel is pronounced like \ee\ .

The fact that hyperbole is pronounced in a way counter to the usual workings of English pronunciation gives a hint as to the word's history in the language. Although these days you might encounter hyperbole in a magazine at the doctor's office, the word's first use was technical. It's from the field of rhetoric, which makes it at home with terms like metaphor, trope, and litotes. And speaking of litotes (pronounced \LYE-tuh-teez\ ), that term is an approximate antonym of hyperbole. It refers to understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negation of the contrary, as in "not a bad idea" or "not unpleasant."

Example Sentences

Four decades later we're all blabbermouths, adrift on a sea of hyperbole, shouting to be heard.

Steve Rushin, Sports Illustrated, 1 Apr. 2002 … balanced on the razor edge of anachronism, creating a rich stew of accepted and invented history, anecdote, myth and hyperbole.

T. Coraghessan Boyle, New York Times Book Review, 18 May 1997 Even if we discount the hyperbole evident in such accounts, they were far from inventions.

Lawrence W. Levine, The Unpredictable Past, 1993 “enough food to feed a whole army” is a common example of hyperbole

Recent Examples on the Web So much of it is hyperbole and shouldn’t be taken literally.

John Bleasdale, Variety, 2 Dec. 2022 Except, of course, most of that is hyperbole as this wasn’t one of the massive mountains found in Alaska, Canada or New England, but Florida’s highest point, Britton Hill.

Patrick Connolly, Orlando Sentinel, 13 Nov. 2022 That is not hyperbole, but a fact well established by research.

CNN, 18 Oct. 2022 This Pete Dye design is comprised of holes with foreboding names such as San Andreas Fault and Alcatraz, and those monikers aren’t hyperbole.

Shaun Tolson, Robb Report, 2 July 2022 To call it an impossible dream might be hyperbole, since the Atlanta Braves came home all square in this World Series, needing three wins to call themselves champions, same as the Houston Astros.

Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, 31 Oct. 2021 The government pointed to messages filled with violent rhetoric leading up to and after the Capitol riot as evidence that the Oath Keepers words weren't just hyperbole.

Ella Lee, USA TODAY, 19 Nov. 2022 To say that Spielberg is performing at the top of his game is no hyperbole.

Clayton Davis, Variety, 10 Sep. 2022 But that was a story of youth, premature parental loss, hyperbole and hopefulness.

Allison Larkin, Washington Post, 11 Oct. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hyperbole.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.