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Hyperbole

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hy⋅per⋅bo⋅le

  [hahy-pur-buh-lee]
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–noun Rhetoric.
1. obvious and intentional exaggeration.
2. an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity.”
Compare litotes.

Origin:
1520–30; < Gk hyperbol excess, exaggeration, throwing beyond, equiv. to hyper- hyper- + bol throw

Synonyms:
2. overstatement.

Antonyms:
2. understatement.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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hy·per·bo·le   (hī-pûr'bə-lē)   
n.  A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a year or This book weighs a ton.

[Latin hyperbolē, from Greek huperbolē, excess, from huperballein, to exceed : huper, beyond; see hyper- + ballein, to throw; see gwelə- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Hyperbole

Hy*per"bo*le\, n. [L., fr. Gr?, prop., an overshooting, excess, fr. Gr. ? to throw over or beyond; "ype`r over + ? to throw. See Hyper-, Parable, and cf. Hyperbola.] (Rhet.) A figure of speech in which the expression is an evident exaggeration of the meaning intended to be conveyed, or by which things are represented as much greater or less, better or worse, than they really are; a statement exaggerated fancifully, through excitement, or for effect.

Our common forms of compliment are almost all of them extravagant hyperboles. --Blair.

Somebody has said of the boldest figure in rhetoric, the hyperbole, that it lies without deceiving. --Macaulay.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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hyperbole [(heye-pur-buh-lee)]

An exaggerated, extravagant expression. It is hyperbole to say, “I'd give my whole fortune for a bowl of bean soup.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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hyperbole 
1529, from L. hyperbole, from Gk. hyperbole "exaggeration, extravagance," from hyperballein "to throw over or beyond," from hyper- "beyond" + bol-, nom. stem of ballein "to throw." Rhetorical sense is found in Aristotle and Isocrates.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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hyperbole

a figure of speech that is an intentional exaggeration for emphasis or comic effect. Hyperbole is common in love poetry, in which it is used to convey the lover's intense admiration for his beloved. An example is the following passage describing Portia:Why, if two gods should play some heavenlymatchAnd on the wager lay two earthly women,And Portia one, there must be something elsePawned with the other, for the poor rudeworldHath not her fellow.(Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice)

Learn more about hyperbole with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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