hyperbole hyperbole
 hy-per'-bo-lee from hyper, "over" and bollein, "to throw"
{Alt Spelling}
superlatio, excessus
over reacher or the loud lyer

Rhetorical exaggeration. Hyperbole is often accomplished via comparisons, similes, and metaphors.
 
Examples
  I've told you a million times not to exaggerate.
Related Figures
 
See Also
 
 
  Sources: Aristotle 3.11.15-16; Ad Herennium 4.33.44 ("superlatio"); Quintilian 8.6.67-76; Bede 615; Trebizond 61v ("superlatio," "hyperbole"); Susenbrotus (1540) 17-19 ("hyberbole," "superlatio," "dementiens superiectio," "eminentia," "excessus"); Sherry (1550) 71; Peacham (1577) D4v; Putt. (1589) 202 ("hiperbole," "over reacher or the loud lyer"); Day 1599 80; Butler B1r-v


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Gideon O. Burton, Brigham Young University
Please cite "Silva Rhetoricae" (rhetoric.byu.edu)


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