Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1400-1500
Language: Latin
Origin: Greek, 'too much of something, hyperbole', from hyperballein 'to go beyond limits'

hyperbole

 noun
     
Related topics: Literature, Linguistics
hy‧per‧bo‧le [uncountable and countable]
AL a way of describing something by saying it is much bigger, smaller, worse etc than it actually is [= exaggeration]:
It was not hyperbole to call it the worst storm in twenty years.
—hyperbolic adjective
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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