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 夸张；夸大；言过其实 The hotel was really filthy and I'm not exaggerating. 我不是夸张，这旅店真的很脏。 🔊🔊 - exaggerate something
He tends to exaggerate the difficulties. 他往往夸大困难。 🔊🔊 I'm sure he exaggerates his Irish accent (= tries to sound more Irish than he really is). 我肯定他故意把爱尔兰口音说得很重。 🔊🔊 Demand for the product has been greatly exaggerated. 对这项产品的需求给过分夸大了。 🔊🔊
Extra ExamplesThe allegations were highly exaggerated. 这些断言大为言过其实。 The historical significance of these events can be easily exaggerated. 这些事件的历史意义很容易被夸大。
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.