Wiktionary

exaggerate

English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin exaggerātus, perfect passive participle of exaggerō (“to heap up, increase, enlarge, magnify, amplify, exaggerate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex- (“out, up”) + aggerō, aggerāre (“to heap up”), from agger (“a pile, heap, mound, dike, mole, pier, etc.”), from aggerō, aggerere (“to bear, carry to (some place), bring together”), from ad- (“to, toward”) +‎ gerō (“to carry”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɛɡˈzæd͡ʒ.ə.ɹeɪt/, /ɛk(s)ˈzæ(ɡ)d͡ʒɜː(ɹ).ɹeɪt/, /ɪɡˈzæd͡ʒ.ə.ɹeɪt/
    • Audio (California):(file)
  • Hyphenation: ex‧ag‧ger‧ate

Verb

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exaggerate (third-person singular simple present exaggerates, present participle exaggerating, simple past and past participle exaggerated)

  1. To overstate, to describe more than the fact.
    Synonyms: big up, overexaggerate, overstate, hyperbolize
    Antonyms: belittle, downplay, understate, trivialize
    I've told you a billion times not to exaggerate!
    He said he’d slept with hundreds of girls, but I know he’s exaggerating. The real number is about ten.
    • 2023 April 5, Mark Hay, “Does Testosterone Affect Your Politics?”, in VICE‎[1]:
      These testosterone thumpers have repackaged and exaggerated the study, with a credulity born of zealotry, into articles with shitposty titles like “Trust The Science: Study Links Left-Wing Politics to Lower Testosterone,” casting it as hard proof of their hormonal theories of healthy politics.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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exaggerate (comparative more exaggerate, superlative most exaggerate)

  1. Exaggerative; overblown.
    • 1901, Valentin Matcas, The Human Addictions:
      And in general, if it is a natural feeling, let it be, but at normal, living levels, not too exaggerate.
    • 2005, Daniel Marin, Megator, page 4:
      Water was invading, like some loving arms, some protecting wings, but its love and care were too exaggerate, they were deadly.
    • 2012, Joy Damousi, Mariano Ben Plotkin, Psychoanalysis and Politics, page 202:
      You will leave [the camp] and when confronted to the smallest inconvenience you will have again these reactions that, for me, are very exaggerate.
    • 2012, Yair Goldreich, The Climate of Israel: Observation, Research and Application, page 132:
      From this comparison, it seems that the data in Table 7.7 are reasonable, while Ashbel's values are exaggerate.

Further reading

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Latin

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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exaggerāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of exaggerō
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