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hyperbole

  (hī-pûr'bə-lē) pronunciation
n.

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a year or This book weighs a ton.

[Latin hyperbolē, from Greek huperbolē, excess, from huperballein, to exceed : huper, beyond; see hyper– + ballein, to throw.]


 
 
Thesaurus: hyperbole

noun

    The act or an instance of exaggerating: exaggeration, hyperbolism, overstatement, tall talk. See increase/decrease.

 
Antonyms: hyperbole

n

Definition: exaggeration
Antonyms: understatement


 

hyperbole [hy‐per‐bŏli], exaggeration for the sake of emphasis in a figure of speech not meant literally. An everyday example is the complaint ‘I've been waiting here for ages.’ Hyperbolic expressions are common in the inflated style of dramatic speech known as bombast, as in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra when Cleopatra praises the dead Antony:

His legs bestrid the ocean: his reared arm
Crested the world.

 
(hīpûr'bəlē) , a figure of speech in which exceptional exaggeration is deliberately used for emphasis rather than deception. Andrew Marvell employed hyperbole throughout “To His Coy Mistress”:

An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast;
But thirty thousand to the rest...


 
(heye-pur-buh-lee)

An exaggerated, extravagant expression. It is hyperbole to say, “I'd give my whole fortune for a bowl of bean soup.”

 
Poetry Glossary: Hyperbole

A bold, deliberate overstatement, e.g., "I'd give my right arm for a piece of pizza." Not intended to be taken literally, it is used as a means of emphasizing the truth of a statement.

 
Word Tutor: hyperbole
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: An exaggeration, used to make something seem greater or better than it is.

pronunciation The speaking in a perpetual hyperbole is comely in nothing but love. — Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Tutor's tip: Note: A "hyperbola" is a curve in mathematics. "Hyperbole" is an exaggeration.

 
Wikipedia: hyperbole

Hyperbole (pronounced /haɪˈpɝbəli/ or "hy-PER-buh-lee"; "HY-per-bowl" is a mispronunciation) is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, and is not meant to be taken literally.

Hyperbole is used to create emphasis. It is often used in poetry and is a literary device as well as a referendum.

Some examples include:

  • "He has a brain the size of a pea."
  • "I could eat a horse."
  • "I've heard that a million times."
  • "She is a hundred feet tall."

Antonyms to hyperbole include meiosis, litotes, and understatement.

In show business, hyperbole (known as hype or media hype) is the practice of spending money on public relations in an attempt to bolster public interest in (for example) a movie, television show, or performing artist.[1] Often the entertainment value of the thing being hyped is exaggerated. Consequently, hype (but not traditional, literate hyperbole) has a bad connotation.

In a similar tendency, it is difficult to distinguish where art and artists receive objective or hyperbolic praise, because of the subjective way that both art and artists are appreciated.

Derived from the Greek ὑπερβολή (literally 'overshooting' or 'excess'), it is a cognate of hyperbola.

Bathos is the opposite of a hyperbole. Bathos is the 'let down' after a hyperbole in a phrase.

The modern slang term hype, in its usage as meaning extravagant publicity, may be derived from the word hyperbole. An example of the use of this slang term is in the 1988 song "Don't Believe the Hype" by the hip hop group Public Enemy.

The word is also incorrectly pronounced as "HY-per-bowl" in the song These Words by British artist Natasha Bedingfield.

See also

References

  1. ^ Austin, Thomas (2002). Hollywood, hype and audiences: selling and watching popular film in the 1990s. Manchester: Manchester University Press, p. 45. ISBN 0-7190-5775-2. “Even in an era well used to the mechanisms of film ‘hype' — aggressive marketing, engineered controversy, press sensationalism” 

External links


 
Translations: Translations for: Hyperbole

Dansk (Danish)
n. - overdrivelse, hyperbol, bevidst overdrivelse

Nederlands (Dutch)
literaire overdrijving

Français (French)
n. - hyperbole

Deutsch (German)
n. - Hyperbel, Übertreibung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ρητορικό) σχήμα καθ' υπερβολήν

Italiano (Italian)
iperbole

Português (Portuguese)
n. - hipérbole (f) (Mat.)

Русский (Russian)
преувеличение

Español (Spanish)
n. - hipérbole

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - hyperbol, överdrift

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
夸张法

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 誇張法

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 과장법, 과장 어구

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 誇張法, 誇張表現

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) غلو, إغراق‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אמירה מוגזמת שאין לקבלה כלשונה‬


 
 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms. © 1999-2008 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Literary Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Copyright © Chris Baldick 2001, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Grammar Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
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