exaggerate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth
    overdraw; magnify; overstate; hyperbolize; hyperbolise; amplify.
    • tended to romanticize and exaggerate this `gracious Old South' imagery
  2. verb do something to an excessive degree
    overdo.
    • He overdid it last night when he did 100 pushups

WordNet

Ex*ag"ger*ate transitive verb
Etymology
L. exaggeratus , p. p. of exaggerare to heap up; ex out + aggerare to heap up, fr. agger heap, aggerere to bring to; ad to + gerere to bear. See Jest.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Exaggerated ; present participle & verbal noun Exaggerating
Definitions
  1. To heap up; to accumulate. Obs. "Earth exaggerated upon them [oaks and firs]." Sir M. Hale.
  2. To amplify; to magnify; to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth ; to delineate extravagantly ; to overstate the truth concerning.
    A friend exaggerates a man's virtues. Addison.

Webster 1913