exaggeration

An exaggeration is when someone says or implies that something is much bigger or more extreme than it really is. You might notice an exaggeration when your friend claims they ran a marathon last weekend, but later admits to just walking 5 miles.

When we use the word "exaggeration", we often talk about how people use words or situations for dramatic effect, but sometimes this can be misleading or untrue. For example, if someone says their car got stolen yesterday, but you find out it was actually just parked in a towed lot and they had to pay a fine to get it back, that's an exaggeration. We might also say someone is making an exaggeration when they talk about the dangers of something or the benefits of a product, but their claims are hard to verify.