exaggerate
verb [intransitive, transitive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they exaggerate | |
| he / she / it exaggerates | |
| past simple exaggerated | |
| past participle exaggerated | |
| -ing form exaggerating |
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.