Hyperbole
Mile-long maggi queues, world’s-best everything, and praise that overshoots the mark all run on this noun, pronounced hy-PER-buh-lee to survive the trap.
Learn This WordMeaning
Deliberate exaggeration.
Memory trick
HYPER-BOLE: hyper (over) + bole (a throw): threw the truth clean over the fence.
Examples
His praise was hyperbole.
The " mile-long" maggi queue was hyperbole: it was merely hostel-long.
Advertisements run on hyperbole, and everyone knows the "world’s best" cannot all win.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Greek hyperbole "excess, throwing beyond," from hyper- "over" + ballein "to throw." Truth thrown deliberately over the top.
Usage Notes
Rhetoric staple: spot it, name it, deflate it. Pronounced hy-PER-buh-lee, never HY-per-bowl; the last syllable sinks the unwary.
Real-life contexts
Use in class: "That headline is pure hyperbole."
Use in writing: "Trim the hyperbole from your SOP."
Use in humor: "My hunger is not hyperbole today."
Common Mistakes
Hyperbole (exaggeration, hy-PER-buh-lee) vs hyperbola (math curve, hy-PER-buh-luh): one letter apart, worlds apart. It is deliberate, unlike error.
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Part of Speech
noun
Difficulty
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