What Is Hyperbole?

By jamie

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When speaking casually, we will use various different language tools to help us get our point across clearly. These tools will often involve phrases that are not supposed to be taken literally and the vast majority of people will know that and take them as they were intended.

One example of such a tool is hyperbole. Hyperbole is when we speak or write in exaggerated terms to help emphasize something to other people. Some are really quite common and used regularly in day-to-day language. Here are a few examples of commonly used hyperbole, what they mean, and how they are usually used.

1. Eat a Horse

Every now and then, we get moments when we have left it too long from one meal to the next. This can cause us to become very hungry and it can be a very unpleasant sensation. At least most of us can be confident that there is food coming at some point, but not everybody can be as confident. When we are very hungry, we are often more than happy to let people know about it, perhaps sometimes to complain to a person that is responsible for our hunger. We will often complain that we are so hungry that we could eat a horse. The reality is, of course, that no person can eat a horse. At least not in one sitting.

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