Hyperbolizes

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To describe or present something in a way that overstates its true nature or importance
2. To make a statement that amplifies or enlarges facts beyond reality
3. To express something with excessive or extravagant emphasis that exceeds the actual truth

Etymology: "Hyperbolizes" is the third-person singular form of "hyperbolize," which means to overstate something greatly. The verb is built from "hyperbole," itself borrowed from Greek, plus the suffix "-ize." That suffix came into English through Middle French and Late Latin from the Greek "-izein," and it lets a noun be turned into an action: to hyperbolize is to make a hyperbole. The noun "hyperbole" has an unusually transparent Greek ancestry. It comes from "huperbolē," literally a "throwing beyond," built from "huper," meaning "over" or "beyond," and "ballein," meaning "to throw." The Greeks used the idea of throwing something past its mark to describe exaggeration, so a hyperbole is an overshoot, a statement that flies past the truth. English took the noun in the form "hyperbole" through Latin, where it had been borrowed as "hyperbolē," and it was in use in Middle English as "iperbole."

Synonyms: exaggerates, embellishes, overstates, amplifies, magnifies

Antonyms: understates, downplays, minimizes