Do you know what hyperbole is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on hyperbole, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
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Kevin
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December 5, 2021
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What is hyperbole?
According to Collins English Dictionary, hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration that is used for effect. This figure of speech is often used in poetry, prose, and advertising for humor. This is an extreme exaggeration or excess of emotion, also known as an overstatement (versus an understatement.) The word hyperbole comes from the Greek word hyperballein, from hyper and ballein, which is also the root of the word hyperbola. This rhetorical device or literary device. is often used in tall tales, but you will also hear people use hyperbole in everyday speech. This extravagant statement or intentional exaggeration is used for the sake of emphasis. You might see hyperbole in stories like Paul Bunyan, a Mark twain novel, a Kurt Vonnegut novel, or a Harper Lee novel. These authors make use of exaggeration to show strong feelings or strong impressions.
Many different languages also contain words that mean hyperbole. You may notice that some of these translations of hyperbole look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of hyperbole is provided by Word Sense.
- German: Hyperbel (fem.), Übertreibung (fem.)
- Polish: hiperbola (fem.)
- Japanese: 誇張 (Kochō)
- Finnish: hyperbola
- Catalan: hipèrbole (fem.)
- French: hyperbole (fem.)
- Esperanto: hiperbolo
- Russian: гипе́рбола (fem.), преувеличе́ние (neut.)
- Irish: urtheilgean (masc.), hipearbóil (fem.)
- Portuguese: hipérbole (fem.)
- Bokmål: hyperbol (masc.)
- Swedish: hyperbol (common)
- Romanian: hiperbolă (fem.)
- Nynorsk: hyperbol (masc.)
- Spanish: hipérbole (fem.)
- Mandarin: 誇張法, 夸张法 (kuāzhāngfǎ)
- Dutch: hyperbool
- Welsh: gormodiaith (fem.)
- Latin: hyperbole (fem.), nimietas, superlatio
- Danish: hyperbel (common)
- Hungarian: hiperbola
- Czech: nadsázka (fem.)
- Greek: υπερβολή (fem.)
- Italian: iperbole (fem.)
- Tagalog: sawig
- Gujarati: અતિશયોક્તિ
What are examples of hyperbole?
Hyperbole can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are a couple of examples of hyperbole from Your Dictionary that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use.
- I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.
- This is the worst day of my life.
- The breeze froze me to the bone.
- It will only take me two seconds to get there.
- I ran a hundred miles yesterday.
- My mom works her fingers to the bone.
- We used to walk 15 miles to school in the snow uphill.
- My dad is always working.
- It’s so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk.
- You could have knocked me over with a feather.
- Grandpa is older than dirt.
- His stomach is a bottomless pit.
- I had a ton of chores to do.
- That mall is large enough to have its own zip code.
- You’re walking slower than a snail.
- Old Mr. Smith has been teaching here since the Stone Age.
- These dress shoes are killing me.
- We waited 50 years for the latest game to be released.
- I ate so much on Thanksgiving, I weigh more than a whale.
- It’s gonna cost a million dollars, so I won’t ask.
- Her smile was a mile wide.
- She’s as thin as a toothpick.
- He was skinny enough to jump through a keyhole.
- He’s got tons of video games.
- The church was decorated with a million flowers.
- It was so cold I saw polar bears wearing jackets.
- Carrie never stops talking.
- My mom is going to kill me.
- If I can’t get a smartphone, I will die.
- Her brain is the size of a pea.
- Our new house cost a bazillion dollars.
- I’ve told you a million times not to do that.
What are other literary techniques and devices?
There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these devices because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of literary devices from Reedsy and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you.
- Satire
- Isocolon
- Malapropism
- Hypophora
- Cumulative sentence
- Anastrophe
- Polysyndeton
- Foreshadowing
- Metonymy
- Onomatopoeia
- Symbolism
- Frame story
- Oxymoron
- Chiasmus
- Soliloquy
- Anthropomorphism
- Point of view
- Zoomorphism
- Allusion
- Tmesis
- Archetype
- Simile
- Synecdoche
- Juxtaposition
- Paradox
- Flashback
- Aphorism
- Imagery
- Personification
- Dramatic irony
- In Medias Res
- Exposition
- Repetition
- Anaphora
- Anachronism
- Litotes
- Motif
- Euphemism
- Irony
- Tragicomedy
- Allegory
- Metaphor
- Tone
- Tautology
- Colloquialism
What are synonyms of hyperbole?
There are many different words that a person can use in place of the word hyperbole. These words with the same definition as the word hyperbole are called synonyms. Learning synonyms is a great way to expand your vocabulary, as well as to avoid repeating yourself in spoken and written English. This list of synonyms of hyperbole is from Power Thesaurus.
- amplification
- antonomasia
- embroidery
- litotes
- overstatement
- hypertrophy
- elaboration
- purple prose
- rhetoric
- hype
- expansion
- overkill
- hyperbolism
- caricature
- malapropism
- inflation
- enlargement
- puffery
- apostrophe
- oxymoron
- pomposity
- metaphor
- overemphasis
- embellishment
- hyperbola
- exaggeration
- big talk
- aggrandizement
- overestimation
- tabloid journalism
- mountain out of molehill
- stretch
- excess
- sensationalism
- extravagance
- figure of speech
- embroidering
- magnification
- cock-and-bull story
- enhancement
- grandiloquence
- exaggerations
- tall talk
- gingerbread
- emphasis
- adornment
- coloring
- fish story
- antithesis
- distortion
Overall, hyperbole refers to an exaggeration used for emphasis.
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