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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.]
noun
hyperbole
His legs bestrid the ocean: his reared arm
Crested the world.
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...
An exaggerated, extravagant expression. It is hyperbole to say, “I'd give my whole fortune for a bowl of bean soup.”
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.
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.
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:
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.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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
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
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 |
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| 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 |
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| Antonyms. © 1999-2008 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Literary Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Copyright © Chris Baldick 2001, 2004. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| 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 |
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| 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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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hyperbole". Read more |
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