Meanings
present singular third person exaggerates · participle present exaggerating · participle past exaggerated · past exaggerated
- To overstate, to describe more than the fact.
I've told you a billion times not to exaggerate!
2 more examples
He said he’d slept with hundreds of girls, but I know he’s exaggerating. The real number is about ten.
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.
2023 April 5, Mark Hay, “Does Testosterone Affect Your Politics?”, in VICESynonyms: big up, overexaggerate, overstate, hyperbolize, stretch, overcharge, big up, cut it fat · Antonyms: belittle, downplay, understate, trivialize
comparative more exaggerate · superlative most exaggerate
- Exaggerative; overblown.
And in general, if it is a natural feeling, let it be, but at normal, living levels, not too exaggerate.
1901, Valentin Matcas, The Human Addictions3 more examples
Water was invading, like some loving arms, some protecting wings, but its love and care were too exaggerate, they were deadly.
2005, Daniel Marin, Megator, page 4You will leave [the camp] and when confronted to the smallest inconvenience you will have again these reactions that, for me, are very exaggerate.
2012, Joy Damousi, Mariano Ben Plotkin, Psychoanalysis and Politics, page 202From this comparison, it seems that the data in Table 7.7 are reasonable, while Ashbel's values are exaggerate.
2012, Yair Goldreich, The Climate of Israel: Observation, Research and Application, page 132
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo overstate, to describe more than the fact.
More synonyms by meaning
verbto enlarge beyond bounds or the truth
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinexaggerātus
- Englishexaggerate
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”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic بَالَغَ
- بَالَغَ (bālaḡa)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
Bulgarian преувеличавам
- преувеличавам (preuveličavam)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
Catalan exagerar
- exagerarto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Chinese Mandarin 誇大 /夸大, 誇張 /夸张
- 誇大 /夸大 (kuādà)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
- 誇張 /夸张 (kuāzhāng)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
Czech přehánět
- přehánětto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Danish overdrive
- overdriveto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Dutch overdrijven
- overdrijvento overstate, to describe more than is fact
Esperanto troigi
- troigito overstate, to describe more than is fact
Finnish liioitella
- liioitellato overstate, to describe more than is fact
French exagérer, outrer
- exagérerto overstate, to describe more than is fact
- outrerto overstate, to describe more than is fact
German aufpeitschen, übertreiben
- aufpeitschento overstate, to describe more than is fact
- übertreibento overstate, to describe more than is fact
Greek υπερβάλλω, παραφουσκώνω
- υπερβάλλω (ypervállo)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
- παραφουσκώνω (parafouskóno)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
- μεγαλοποιώ (megalopoió)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
- παρακάνω (parakáno)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
Hawaiian hoʻonui ʻōlelo
- hoʻonui ʻōleloto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Hebrew הגזים
- הגזים (higzím)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
Hungarian túloz, eltúloz
- túlozto overstate, to describe more than is fact
- eltúlozto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Icelandic ýkja, yfirdrífa
- ýkjato overstate, to describe more than is fact
- yfirdrífato overstate, to describe more than is fact
Indonesian membesar-besarkan, melebih-lebihkan
- membesar-besarkanto overstate, to describe more than is fact
- melebih-lebihkanto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Italian esagerare
- esagerareto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Japanese 誇張する, 大袈裟に言う
- 誇張する (kochō suru)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
- 大袈裟に言う (ōgesa ni iu)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
Korean 과대시하다, 과장하다
- 과대시하다 (gwadaesi-hada)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
- 과장하다 (gwajang-hada)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
Latin verbīs augeō
- verbīs augeōto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Māori tahupera, whakamōmona kōrero
- tahuperato overstate, to describe more than is fact
- whakamōmona kōreroto overstate, to describe more than is fact
- hau pirauto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Norwegian overdrive
- overdriveto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Norwegian Bokmål overdrive, ta i
- overdriveto overstate, to describe more than is fact
- ta ito overstate, to describe more than is fact
Persian گزاف گفتن, اغراق کردن
- گزاف گفتن (gazâf goftan)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
- اغراق کردن (eġrâq kardan)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
Polish wyolbrzymiać, przesadzać
- wyolbrzymiaćto overstate, to describe more than is fact
- przesadzaćto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Portuguese exagerar
- exagerarto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Romanian exagera
- exagerato overstate, to describe more than is fact
Russian преувели́чивать, преувели́чить
- преувели́чивать (preuvelíčivatʹ)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
- преувели́чить (preuvelíčitʹ)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
- утри́ровать (utrírovatʹ)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
Spanish exagerar
- exagerarto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Swedish överdriva, ta i
- överdrivato overstate, to describe more than is fact
- ta ito overstate, to describe more than is fact
Tagalog magpalaki, palakihin
- magpalakito overstate, to describe more than is fact
- palakihinto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Turkish abartmak, mübalağa etmek
- abartmakto overstate, to describe more than is fact
- mübalağa etmekto overstate, to describe more than is fact
Ukrainian перебі́льшувати, перебі́льшити
- перебі́льшувати (perebílʹšuvaty)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
- перебі́льшити (perebílʹšyty)to overstate, to describe more than is fact
Cite this entry
exaggerate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exaggerate
“exaggerate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exaggerate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “exaggerate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/exaggerate.
Source: exaggerate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.