1 Definition
Deliberate and obvious exaggeration used for emphasis or effect, not meant to be taken literally.
2 In Use
When she said the line at the coffee shop stretched to the next county, everyone knew it was hyperbole, but nobody doubted it was long.
3 Word Origin
ballein Gk. · to throw → hyperbolē Gk. · excess, overshooting → hyperbole Late Middle English
Hyperbole began as a picture of overshooting. Greek speakers combined a prefix meaning "beyond" with a verb for throwing, and the result described anything hurled past its mark. Greek rhetoricians then borrowed that image for speech that reaches well beyond the literal truth, and the word passed through Latin into English with that rhetorical meaning intact. Over time it settled into everyday use for any gleeful stretching of the facts.
💡Fun Fact
The geometric curve called a hyperbola comes from the very same Greek word, and so does its cousin the parabola. Ancient mathematicians used these names to describe how a shape falls short of, matches, or overshoots a certain measurement. That is why a word for a boastful fish story and a word from a geometry textbook are quietly related. English speakers also tend to stumble over the ending: the final e is sounded, giving a four syllable word that rhymes with "see" rather than the three syllable word many expect.
