exaggerate

English

Etymology

From Latin exaggeratus, past participle of exaggerare (“to heap up, increase, enlarge, magnify, amplify, exaggerate”), from ex (“out, up”) + aggerare (“to heap up”), from agger (“a pile, heap, mound, dike, mole, pier, etc.”), from aggerere, adgerere (“to bring together”), from ad (“to, toward”) +‎ gerere (“to carry”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛɡˈzæd͡ʒ.ə.ɹeɪt/, /ɛk(s)ˈzæ(ɡ)d͡ʒɜː(ɹ).ɹeɪt/, /ɪɡˈzæd͡ʒ.ə.ɹeɪt/

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• Hyphenation: ex‧ag‧ger‧ate

Verb

exaggerate (third-person singular simple present exaggerates, present participle exaggerating, simple past and past participle exaggerated)

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

   Synonyms: big up, overexaggerate, overstate, hyperbolize

   Antonyms: belittle, downplay, understate, trivialize

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

   He said he’d slept with hundreds of girls, but I know he’s exaggerating. The real number is about ten.

Derived terms

• exaggeratedly
• exaggeratingly
• exaggerative
• exaggeratively
• exaggerativeness
• exaggerator
• exaggeratory
• hyperexaggerate
• underexaggerate

 

Related terms

• exaggeration

 

Translations

to overstate, to describe more than is fact

• Albanian: zmadhoj (sq), teproj (sq)
• Arabic: بَالَغَ (bālaḡa)
• Azerbaijani: şişirtmək (az), mübaliğə etmək
• Bashkir: арттырыу (arttırıw)
• Bulgarian: преувеличавам (bg) (preuveličavam)
• Catalan: exagerar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 誇大 / 夸大 (zh) (kuādà), 誇張 / 夸张 (zh) (kuāzhāng)

• Czech: přehánět (cs)
• Danish: overdrive
• Dutch: overdrijven (nl)
• Esperanto: troigi (eo)
• Finnish: liioitella (fi)
• French: exagérer (fr), outrer (fr)
• Galician: esaxerar (gl)
• Georgian: გადაჭარბება (gadač̣arbeba), გაზვიადება (gazviadeba)
• German: übertreiben (de)
• Greek: υπερβάλλω (el) (ypervállo), παραφουσκώνω (el) (parafouskóno), μεγαλοποιώ (el) (megalopoió), παρακάνω (el) (parakáno)
• Hebrew: הגזים (he) (higzím)
• Hungarian: túloz (hu), eltúloz (hu)
• Icelandic: ýkja, yfirdrífa
• Indonesian: membesar-besarkan (id), melebih-lebihkan (id)
• Italian: esagerare (it)
• Ivatan: mapanatun
• Japanese: 誇張する (ja) (kochō suru), 大袈裟に言う (ja) (ōgesa ni iu)
• Korean: 과대시하다 (gwadaesi-hada), 과장하다 (ko) (gwajang-hada)
• Latin: verbīs augeō
• Lun Bawang: mefoot
• Macedonian: преувеличува (preuveličuva)
• Maori: tahupera, whakamōmona kōrero, hau pirau (idiomatic)
• Norwegian: overdrive (no)

  Bokmål: overdrive (no), ta i

• Persian: گزاف گفتن (gazâf goftan), اغراق کردن (fa) (eğrâq kardan)
• Polish: wyolbrzymiać (pl), przesadzać (pl)
• Portuguese: exagerar (pt)
• Quechua: anchachay
• Romanian: exagera (ro)
• Russian: преувели́чивать (ru) impf (preuvelíčivatʹ), преувели́чить (ru) pf (preuvelíčitʹ), утри́ровать (ru) (utrírovatʹ)
• Spanish: exagerar (es)
• Swedish: överdriva (sv), ta i (sv)
• Tagalog: magpalaki, palakihin
• Turkish: abartmak (tr), mübalağa etmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: перебі́льшувати impf (perebílʹšuvaty), перебі́льшити pf (perebílʹšyty)
• Volapük: tuükön (vo)

Adjective

exaggerate (comparative more exaggerate, superlative most exaggerate)

1. Exaggerative; overblown.
   • 1901, Valentin Matcas, The Human Addictions:

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

   • 2005, Daniel Marin, Megator, page 4:

     Water was invading, like some loving arms, some protecting wings, but its love and care were too exaggerate, they were deadly.

   • 2012, Joy Damousi, Mariano Ben Plotkin, Psychoanalysis and Politics, page 202:

     You will leave [the camp] and when confronted to the smallest inconvenience you will have again these reactions that, for me, are very exaggerate.

   • 2012, Yair Goldreich, The Climate of Israel: Observation, Research and Application, page 132:

     From this comparison, it seems that the data in Table 7.7 are reasonable, while Ashbel's values are exaggerate.

Further reading

• “exaggerate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “exaggerate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “exaggerate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ek.saɡ.ɡeˈraː.te/, [ɛks̠äɡːɛˈräːt̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ek.sad.d͡ʒeˈra.te/, [eɡzädː͡ʒeˈräːt̪e]

Verb

exaggerāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of exaggerō