hyperbole
noun
Did you know?
In the 5th century B.C.E. there was a rabble-rousing Athenian politician named Hyperbolus. Since Hyperbolus is known to history as a demagogue, i.e. “a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power,†one might be tempted to assume that his name played a role in the development of the modern English word hyperbole, but that's not the case. Although that noun does come to us from Greek (by way of Latin), it does so instead from the Greek verb hyperballein, meaning “to exceed,†which itself was formed from hyper-, meaning “beyond,†and ballein, “to throw.†Hyperbolus may have preferred to take the undeserved credit, of course.
Did you know?
How is hyperbole pronounced—and why?
This word doesn't behave the way we expect a word that's spelled this way to behave. It begins with the prefix hyper-, which we know in words like hyperlink (and in the adjective hyper itself), but instead of having the accent, or emphasis, on the first syllable—HYE-per-link—it has the accent on the second syllable: hye-PER-buh-lee. And then there's that bole. It should sound just like the word bowl, right? Nope. Instead it's two syllables: \buh-lee\ .
The word comes to English directly from Latin, but the Latin word is from a Greek word that has one crucial visual difference. It has a line, called a macron, over the final e: hyperbolē. The macron tells us that the vowel is pronounced like \ee\ .
The fact that hyperbole is pronounced in a way counter to the usual workings of English pronunciation gives a hint as to the word's history in the language. Although these days you might encounter hyperbole in a magazine at the doctor's office, the word's first use was technical. It's from the field of rhetoric, which makes it at home with terms like metaphor, trope, and litotes. And speaking of litotes (pronounced \LYE-tuh-teez\ ), that term is an approximate antonym of hyperbole. It refers to understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negation of the contrary, as in "not a bad idea" or "not unpleasant."
Examples of hyperbole in a Sentence
Rebecca Boyle, Discover Magazine, 24 July 2019
Four decades later we're all blabbermouths, adrift on a sea of hyperbole, shouting to be heard.
—Steve Rushin, Sports Illustrated, 1 Apr. 2002
… balanced on the razor edge of anachronism, creating a rich stew of accepted and invented history, anecdote, myth and hyperbole.
—T. Coraghessan Boyle, New York Times Book Review, 18 May 1997
“Enough food to feed a whole army†is a common example of hyperbole.
Ian Shepherd, Forbes.com, 19 May 2025
Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at TD Garden featured, without hyperbole, Boston’s two worst shooting performances of the season.
—Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 8 May 2025
If the goal is to persuade others—or even simply to have a productive discussion—hyperbole is counterproductive.
—Matt Robison, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 May 2025
Most economists and investors brushed off the stump speech as hyperbole — a campaign promise that gets whittled down in the face of economic realities.
—Daisuke Wakabayashi, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hyperbole
Cite this Entry
“Hyperbole.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hyperbole. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
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hyperbole
noun
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