Exaggeration

How to spell exaggeration

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce exaggeration

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does exaggeration mean?

1. nounA statement that makes something seem larger, better, or worse than it really is.

Exaggeration in a sentence

• Saying the meeting lasted forever was a slight exaggeration.

• The advert's claims were dismissed as marketing exaggeration.

Where does exaggeration come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb exaggerare, which literally meant 'to heap up' or 'to pile high'. It was built from the prefix ex-, here adding force in the sense of 'thoroughly', and the noun agger, meaning a 'heap' or 'mound' of earth, the same kind of bank Roman soldiers raised for fortifications. Over time the physical image of piling material higher and higher shifted to a figurative one: making a description bigger than the truth, overstating things, or blowing them out of proportion. English took the word in during the sixteenth century, largely through formal and rhetorical writing, where 'heaping up' words for effect was a recognised device. The buried double g, inherited straight from agger, is the spelling trap, since the sound gives no clue that two g's are needed.

How the word is built

• ex- (out, thoroughly)
• agger (heap, mound)
• -ation (noun of action)