Definition of Hyperbole

1. Noun. Extravagant exaggeration.

Exact synonyms: Exaggeration
Generic synonyms: Figure, Figure Of Speech, Image, Trope
Derivative terms: Exaggerate, Hyperbolic, Hyperbolize

Definition of Hyperbole

1. n. A figure of speech in which the expression is an evident exaggeration of the meaning intended to be conveyed, or by which things are represented as much greater or less, better or worse, than they really are; a statement exaggerated fancifully, through excitement, or for effect.

Definition of Hyperbole

1. Noun. Extreme exaggeration or overstatement; especially as a literary or rhetorical device. ¹

2. Noun. Deliberate exaggeration. ¹

3. Noun. An instance or example of this technique. ¹

4. Noun. (countable obsolete) A hyperbola. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Hyperbole

1. [n -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Hyperbole

hyperbeats
hyperbenthic
hyperbenthos
hyperbetalipoproteinaemia
hyperbetalipoproteinemia
hyperbike
hyperbikes
hyperbilirubinaemia
hyperbilirubinaemias
hyperbilirubinemia
hyperbilirubinemia of the newborn
hyperbilirubinemias
hyperbola
hyperbolae
hyperbolas
hyperbole (current term)
hyperboles
hyperbolic
hyperbolic cosine
hyperbolic function
hyperbolic geometry
hyperbolic navigation system
hyperbolic plane
hyperbolic planes
hyperbolic polynomial
hyperbolic sine
hyperbolic space
hyperbolic spaces
hyperbolic tangent
hyperbolical

Literary usage of Hyperbole

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Course of Lectures on Oratory and Criticism by Joseph Priestley (1781)
"The advantage of ufmg an hyperbole, is, that the idea of one object may be heightened and improved by ideas transferred from other objects, ..."

2. An Introduction to Aristotle's Rhetoric: With Analysis, Notes and Appendices by Edward Meredith Cope (1867)
"This implies that there are other sorts of hyperbole, but those which are expressed by metaphor are the best. As when it was said of the man with the black ..."

3. Metaphor and Simile in the Minor Elizabethan Drama by Frederic Ives Carpenter (1895)
"Intensity of his Diction In its excess Tourneur's imagination descends to such hyperbole in examples of hyperbole and extravagance as the Tourneur following ..."

4. A Manual of Composition and Rhetoric: A Text-book for Schools and Colleges by John Seely Hart (1892)
"hyperbole. hyperbole is exaggeration. It consists in representing things to be either ... The object of hyperbole is to make the thought more effective by ..."

5. The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M. B.: Including a Variety of by Oliver Goldsmith (1837)
"ON THE USE OF hyperbole. OF all the figures in poetry, that called the ... The hyperbole is an exaggeration with which the muse is indulged for the better ..."

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