Hyperbole

Hyperbole is a huge exaggeration that nobody takes literally: I've told you a million times! It shows strong feelings, or makes something funny or dramatic.

Key facts

  • Hyperbole: an exaggeration for effect: This bag weighs a ton. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. It means very heavy, very hungry.
  • Hyperbole shows strong feelings or makes something funny or dramatic. People use it all the time in speech: We waited for ages.

Worked examples

Example 1

What does it really mean? My brother takes a hundred years in the shower.

  1. Nobody spends a hundred years in the shower.
  2. It means he takes a very long time.

Answer: My brother spends a long time in the shower.

Example 2

Find the hyperbole: I've told you a million times to tidy your room!

  1. Nobody has really said it a million times.
  2. a million times is the exaggeration: it means many times.

Answer: a million times: it means many times.

Example 3

Is this hyperbole? The bag weighed a ton.

  1. A bag you can carry can't really weigh a ton.
  2. It's an exaggeration for effect: the bag was very heavy.

Answer: Yes: the bag was very heavy, not really a ton.

Example 4

Rewrite without the hyperbole: I'm so tired I could sleep for a year.

  1. Nobody sleeps for a year: the exaggeration shows how tired the speaker is.
  2. Without it: I'm very tired.

Answer: I'm very tired.

Example 5

Why does the writer exaggerate? I've got a mountain of homework tonight.

  1. Real meaning: there is a lot of homework.
  2. The exaggeration (a mountain) shows the feeling: it seems huge and impossible.

Answer: The hyperbole shows how overwhelmed the speaker feels; it isn't meant literally.

Example 6

Write a hyperbole to show someone was very hungry.

  1. Think of something impossible to do when hungry.
  2. Make it so big that nobody takes it literally: the whole fridge.

Answer: I was so hungry I could have eaten the whole fridge.