exaggerate
verb/ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪt/
/ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪt/
[intransitive, transitive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they exaggerate | /ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪt/ /ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪt/ |
| he / she / it exaggerates | /ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪts/ /ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪts/ |
| past simple exaggerated | /ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪtɪd/ /ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪtɪd/ |
| past participle exaggerated | /ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪtɪd/ /ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form exaggerating | /ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪtɪŋ/ /ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪtɪŋ/ |
- to make something seem larger, better, worse or more important than it really is
- The hotel was really filthy and I'm not exaggerating.
- exaggerate something He tends to exaggerate the difficulties.
- I'm sure he exaggerates his Irish accent (= tries to sound more Irish than he really is).
- Demand for the product has been greatly exaggerated.
Extra Examples- The media has exaggerated the extent of this problem.
- The historical significance of these events can be easily exaggerated.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- greatly
- grossly
- vastly
- …
- tend to
- be easy to
- be difficult to
- …
- highly exaggerated
Word Originmid 16th cent.: from Latin exaggerat- ‘heaped up’, from the verb exaggerare, from ex- ‘thoroughly’ + aggerare ‘heap up’ (from agger ‘heap’). The word originally meant ‘pile up, accumulate’, later ‘increase praise or blame’, giving rise to current senses.
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exaggerate