hyperbole

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   extravagant exaggeration

   Stop using hyperbole and give me the facts!

2. 2
   noun

   Deliberate or unintentional overstatement, particularly extreme overstatement.

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

3. 3
   noun

   An instance or example of such overstatement.

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

4. 4
   noun

   A hyperbola.

Etymology

From Middle English iperbole, yperbole, from Latin hyperbolē, from Ancient Greek ὑπερβολή (huperbolḗ, “excess, exaggeration”), from ὑπέρ (hupér, “above”) + βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-). Doublet of hyperbola.