Meaning of hyperbole | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Hyperbole, exaggeration.
2. Deliberate or unintentional overstatement, particularly extreme overstatement.
   rhetoric, uncountable
3. An instance or example of such overstatement.
   countable
4. A hyperbola.
   countable, obsolete

Equivalents

Examples

“Hyperbole soars too high, or creeps too low, Exceeds the truth, things wonderful to shew.”

“The great staircase, however, may be termed, without much hyperbole, a feature of grandeur and magnificence.”

“"Nay, nay, good Sumach," interrupted the Deerslayer, whose love⟳ of truth was too indomitable to listen⟳ to such hyperbole, with patience[…]”

“Of course the hymn has come⟳ to us from somewhere else, but I do not know⟳ from where; and the average native of our village firmly believes that it is indigenous to our own⟳ soil—which it can not be, unless it deals in hyperbole, for the nearest approach⟳ to a river in our neighborhood is the village pond.”

“The final key to the way I promote⟳ is bravado. I play⟳ to people's fantasies. […] That's why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want⟳ to believe⟳ that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call⟳ it truthful hyperbole. It's an innocent form⟳ of exaggeration—and a very effective form⟳ of promotion.”

“In these circumstances, hyperbole is called for, the rhetorical figure⟳ that raises its objects up, excessively, way above their actual merit : it is not to deceive⟳ by exaggeration that one overshoots the mark⟳, but to allow⟳ the true value, the truth of what is insufficiently valued, to appear⟳.”

“The perennial problem, especially for the BBC, has been to reconcile the hyperbole-driven agenda of newspapers with the requirement of balance, which is crucial to the public service remit.”

“Trump has always believed in “truthful hyperbole,” as he called it in “The Art of the Deal⟳.” But now it’s untruthful hyperbole.”

“Of course, Altman has a penchant for hyperbole, and OpenAI—like⟳ the rest⟳ of the AI industry—likes to tout each new model⟳ as the best ever.”

“[…]and when he ſpeakes, / 'Tis like⟳ a Chime a mending. With tearmes vnſquar' / Which from the tongue of roaring Typhon dropt, / Would ſeemes Hyperboles”

“The honourable gentleman forces us to hear⟳ a good deal⟳ of this detestable rhetoric; and then he asks why, if the secretaries of the Nizam and the King of Oude use⟳ all these tropes and hyperboles, Lord Ellenborough should not indulge in the same sort⟳ of eloquence?”

CEFR level