CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes. You might be surprised at just how far a little hyperbole can take you, your characters, and your narrative! Literary Devices List: 33 Main Literary Devices with Examples, What Does Onomatopoeia Mean? She's as old as the hills. Delivered to your inbox! This is the best website on earth it has such good hyperboles and they are really funny they crack me up every time I read it. When the Americans and their guards did come out, the sky was black with smoke. 26. Obviously, she must sleep sometimes as well as do other things. The sun being described as an angry little pinhead makes it seem like the characters are far away. You are brighter than the shiniest star. Even beyond the obvious exaggeration, Austen's use of hyperbole in this exchange hints at the fact that Elizabeth's feelings for Darcy are more complicated than she admits, even to herself. The most common reason it is used in both literature, film, and everyday conversation is to describe a feeling. It was the worst disaster ever. Youll find hyperbole all over the place: In speeches: A politician will state that they are campaigning in the greatest city on earth. While flattering, they are probably exaggerating in order to appeal to its citizens civic pride. The barbarians broke through the barricade. Take this statement for example: I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse. Hume, like many others that use hyperbolic speech, did not fully mean what he was saying in the quote above. Is Your Anxiety Sabotaging Your Relationship? However, even a little comedy can enhance almost any narrative, and hyperbole is one of the best ways to make your own audiences laugh. Id climb Mount Everest just to see you for 30 more seconds. In everyday conversation, we might say, He is as tall as a building to describe a really tall person. Trump has used hyperbole throughout his career, fully aware of its rhetorical power. The story of To Kill a Mockingbird takes place during the Great Depression in Maycomb County, Georgia: a sleepy town where nothing much ever happens: People moved slowly then. understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary . *The literal meaning of the saying Jack was thirsty enough to drink a river dry. Mark Twain is rightly known as a master of hyperbole. The fascinating story behind many people's favori Can you handle the (barometric) pressure? argumentative. What is the definition of hyperbole and how do we distinguish this from other literary devices. 31 Rhetorical Devices and Examples from 'Alliteration' to 'Zeugma' The hyperbole literary definition. This hand will rather. A busy person might complain that their schedule will take a million years to finish to complain about their schedule in an exaggerated wayeven if it isnt literally true. In Cat's Cradle, Vonnegut uses hyperbole to describe his character Felix Hoenikker, a fictional scientist who helped invent the atomic bomb. To say they had enough food to feed a pack of teenagers is an exaggerationit probably isnt quite true, but its within the realm of possibility. As you can see, we either use or encounter hyperbolic language on a daily basis in our everyday speech. Teachers and parents! It's comparing two unlike things to enliven the author's description (lips and cymbals). Hyperbole. Most syllepsis is employed for comedic effect, so its no surprise that Dickens seemed to be rather fond of it. As with other figures of speech, though, the golden rule of hyperbole is that it should help move your plot along. Hyperbole is a literary device that involves using exaggerated statements or claims to emphasize a point or create a dramatic effect. Hyperbole. Definition and Examples from Literature. Definition & Examples, What is an Oxymoron? We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!Terry Gilliam: Well we had it tough. 41. Definition. Hyperbole and idiom can also be confused because each one involves figurative language. In this way, hyperbole helps Auden take a concept that most people are familiar with (loving someone forever) and present it in a fresh way by simply redefining how long forever will be. By using hyperbaton, Yoda emphasizes instead me, which flows better with what hes trying to say in that scenethat its not the size of the Jedi that matters. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. Before we break down the many uses of hyperbole, let's quickly review some classic examples. 5. Antonomasia broadly refers to substituting one name for the common, obvious, or normal name. I notice an increase in my leanings towards hyperbole when I began facebook messenger a year ago. The links would go to their webpages and stuff. Hyperbole in Literature One of the most famous examples of hyperbole in literature is Jonathan Swift's . But you use the phrase to show people you're extremely hungry. It is being used hyperbolically. I play to peoples fantasies. https://www.thoughtco.com/greatest-hyperboles-of-all-time-1691854 (accessed March 1, 2023). In these cases, the word literally is not meant to be understood, well, literally. This was our Declaration of Independence and if Mom didn't let us go to that concert, she would be our King George III. "I don't understand," I said. Grammarly stands with our friends, colleagues, and family in Ukraine, and with all people of Ukraine. Rather than blow something up for attention, it shrinks it down. You're as light as a feather. Vonnegut emphasizes the otherworldliness by saying that the city was like the moon now. Obviously, Dresden did not suddenly become a replica of the moon, but the hyperbole helps emphasize how much the surrounding landscape had changed. No matter how bad Mellon's table manners were, it would be impossible for him to achieve the volume of a pair of cymbals clashing with his lips, so isn't this also a hyperbole? This humidity is more oppressive than a dictatorship. ", Definition: the use of a word in the same grammatical relation to two adjacent words in the context with one literal and the other metaphorical in sense, At length Mr. Stiggins took his hat, and his leave. Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1836. 'Pleonasm', 'antonomasia', and 8 more essential rhetorical terms . "Yeah, that riptide wasn't fun; good thing I'm not a terrible swimmer. We see this in everyday conversation all the time. In saying "I don't hate it," the . In writing, exaggerated statements should always move the narrative forward. Keep in mind that exaggerated character reactions also help tell us about how your characters perceive and react to different events. We would sit down and think which way. So, no matter the circumstances, when a point needs to be made sometimes plain language is simply insufficient. 2. Author and editor Laurie Scheer teaches you how to write creative nonfiction that grips readers and that editors want to buy. It may be simple enough to learn, but it takes a lot of time and practice in order to master. 55. In rhetoric and literature, hyperbole is often used for serious, comic, or ironic effects. 21. But those arent the only types of antonomasia around. Why is it so commonly used and what is it effective at communicating? a type of writing which breaks down a process or situation into its parts. Hyperbole is a literary device used to draw emphasis through extreme exaggeration. Why is it so commonly used and what is it effective at communicating? Quintilian's defense of this figure of speech is quite profoundhe argues that hyperbole isn't intended to deceive, or to express an exaggerated form of the truth, but instead to stand in for truths that are inexpressible. However, people around the world do, in fact, eat horses as part of their diet. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. I could listen to that song on repeat forever. You see it most often in phrases like not bad to mean good and not uncommon to mean common, though sometimes litotes is less obvious: Springfield is no ordinary city and hes not the smartest guy around also use litotes. But the statement easily conveys the idea that they could eat a lot of anything in a much more evocative way than if hed simply said Im so hungry.. Hyperbole is versatile and can be applied outside of fiction to comment on real-world issues. A character exaggerating that a hard task was no big deal, by contrast, will come across as noble and possibly self-sacrificing. Forget knocking it out of the park, Frank can knock a baseball off the continent. The other curve is a mirror image, and is closer to G than to F. In other words, the distance from P to F is always less than the distance P to G by some constant amount. He's comparing Felix Hoenikker to these forces of nature to show that Hoenniker is one of them: brilliant, self-contained and impossible to control. If you keep pouting like that a birds going to come and shit on your lip. It is like hyperbole, but the opposite. Hyperbaton is responsible for phrases like time immemorial and a friend most dear. Meiosis is a strategic understatement that diminishes or downplays a subject (ambulance chaser instead of personal injury attorney). Words can have positive, negative or neutral connotations. For example, in the hyperbolic statement, "My backpack weighs a ton," the speaker doesn't actually think the backpack weighs a ton, nor does he or she intend the listener to think so. Hyperbole can be controversial as it is almost always in partial conflict with the truthfurther, those that use this form of speech, especially in excess, are often criticized as immature, fanatical, and distant. For example, the Centers for Disease Control reports that 2 million smokers were inspired to quit by the government's anti-smoking ads between 2014 and 2017. At that time Bogot was a remote, lugubrious city where an insomniac rain had been falling since the beginning of the 16th century. Gabriel Garca Mrquez, Living to Tell the Tale. Ask yourself: how do others currently see this character? 34. i dont get this but i think by reding the list makes sence, My mom is going to kill me "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of human talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White Housewith the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone," (Kennedy 1962). "He proposed seven times: once in a hackney-coach, once in a boat, once in a pew, once on a donkey at Tunbridge Wells, and the rest on his knees. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean). However, writers who use too much hyperbole risk diluting the effect because the exaggeration wont stand out anymore. Well be reading four plays by the Bard this semester: Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Nights Dream. Kurt Vonnegut frequently uses hyperbole in his novels, for both dramatic and comedic effect. The sun was an angry little pinhead. Is I measure the distance in terms of multiple whales an example of hyperbole? Definition: an inverted relationship between the syntactic elements of parallel phrases, Love without end, and without measure Grace John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1667. In the case of Tom Robbins' "Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg", this figure of speech is used to recount the performance and passion of an enchanting musician. When characters use hyperbole in this familiar way, it makes them easier to relate to, because theyre using phrases and terms that the rest of us use in our daily lives. A hyperbole is a literary device that lets you say the most ridiculous things just for emphasis. They are speaking in hyperbole. Yes, I believe they share the same root in hyper., THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH SUCH A GREAT WEB SITE. We're more overdue for a hangout than the library book I forgot to return ten years ago. You have been successfully subscribed to the Grammarly blog. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5a Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors (e.g., as pretty as a picture) in context. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height, My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight. It can be hard to tell the difference between hyperbole and simile. Hyperbole is and always has been commonplace in informal prose, but is never more beautiful and lyrical than in poetry. 1. A feeling of incredible joy is often hard to describe, so people turn to hyperboles. What Is Juxtaposition? Litotes itself is, like many rhetorical terms, Greek. One moose, two moose. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Seems as if I am writing to myself when writing to a person that I have not seen for yearscareless writingNow I will pay more attention, In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with hyperbole. 25. Similarly, "their dreams are our dreams," and "we share one heart," are both examples of hyperbole that Trump uses to express compassion. This really helped me out a lot I looked for the definition and example everywhere like 10000 times you really rock I have a poetry project due tomarrow. To work hyperbole into your writing, consider the following questions: Hyperboles are not meant to trick your reader. Ive already told you a million times! "Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime. Youll see this in some of our hyperbole examples later on. The standard form for chiasmus is roughly ABBA. ave you ever felt at a loss for words to describe what you are feeling or the point you are making? Austen drops various hints throughout the beginning of the novel that Elizabeth feels something beyond mere dislike for Darcy. Simile, further, is defined by the use of the words "like" or "as," which the writer uses to establish the comparison that he or she wants to make. In sports: When one player brushes against another, its customary to tumble over and start grabbing at part of their body in pain. Get a quick-reference PDF with concise definitions of all 136 Lit Terms we cover. 1. The opposite of hyperbole. Figure of Speech: Definition and Examples. Incidentally, this is one of the reasons why we can only afford to use hyperbole very sparingly. Heres a quick and simple definition: Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbole means to exaggerate or go well beyond literal reality, whereas understatement goes under it. At least I think it is. The Roman rhetorician Quintilianus eloquently describes this tricky concept by explaining that rather than a deceitful lie, hyperbole is "an elegant surpassing of the truth": Philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca also defends this way of speaking, saying that hyperbole "asserts the incredible in order to arrive at the credible," (Seneca 1887). Gift a membership & buy gift certificates, Get a professional online writing portfolio, Free, liberated ebooks for the true book lover. Theres more syllepsis in The Pickwick Papers (Miss Bolo rose from the table considerably agitated, and went straight home, in a flood of tears and a sedan-chair.), Dombey and Son (Mr. 3. There are other literary devices that rely on an understanding that the writer does not mean exactly what they say. Often, hyperbolic poems and songs like these three are about love. Although hyperbole and overstatement can sometimes be interchangeable, they have slight differences. Im gonna beat the living day lights outta you. The exaggeration is the reason the line has become iconic in cinema. What is an example of hyperbole as comedic delivery? Different examples of hyperbole can be structured quite differently as sentences. Dr. Richard Nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University and the author of several university-level grammar and composition textbooks. The apocalypse is definitely here. When some characters are more prone to exaggeration and others are less prone, it helps your ensemble feel more realistic. Text-to-text connection Nearly the whole of Europe could be lost in that stupendous region of fat farms, shoddy cities, and paralyzed cerebrums: one could throw in France, Germany, and Italy, and still have room for the British Isles. Hyperbole is one of the most common literary devices and figures of speech used in everyday language. Allie has a million pairs of shoes in her closet. Readers also get a sense of how the character is starting to disassociate, thinking of himself in a remote and empty landscape not unlike the moon. Looking at just one of the curves: any point P is closer to F than to G by some constant amount. But chiasmus is different from other types of parallelism: its not structures or ideas duplicated, but structures or ideas mirrored. Id rather stab my own eye out than spend another minute with you. Dombey stiff with starch and arrogance), Bleak House (where one colonialist character speaks of a view to the general cultivation of the coffee berryand the natives), Our Mutual Friend (Mr and Mrs John Harmontaking possession of their rightful name and their London house,just one of many examples), and this beautiful sylleptic garden-path of a sentence in Little Dorrit: Romance, however, Flora went on, busily arranging Mr F.'s Aunt's toast, as I openly said to Mr F. when he proposed to me and you will be surprised to hear that he proposed seven times, once in a hackney-coach, once in a boat, once in a pew, once on a donkey at Tunbridge Wells, and the rest on his knees, Romance was fled with the early days of Arthur Clennam. When the best man at a wedding introduces his celebratory toast of the bride and groom with, Where do I even begin?, hes pretending that hes uncertain about how to enumerate the qualities of the happy couple in order to hint to the assembled well-wishers that the bride and groom have so many good qualities that its difficult to choose. Nothing could ever go wrong with his plan. Odds are youve probably turned to using hyperbole. Hyperbole is particularly effective in elevating intense emotions such as love. Hyperbole, Pleonasm, and more. Pleonasm is a mellifluous name for something every English composition teacher despises: redundancy. How would he or she prefer to be seen? Around the year A.D. 95, though, the Roman rhetorician Quintilian wrote the following eloquent defense of hyperbole: Hyperbole lies, but not so as to intend to deceive by lying. Im so thirsty I could drink Niagra Falls. Some people are calling me the Tiger Woods . Obviously, there are other things to fear. It's no secret that hyperbolic speech is outlandish, but that doesn't mean it isn't useful. The hyperbole above is a commonly used phrase people use to signify someone who ate a lot of food. These lines are called asymptotes and as the graphs show as we make x . Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Nordquist, Richard. Hyperbole is and always has been commonplace in informal prose, but is never more beautiful and lyrical than in poetry. Yes, because that exaggerates how often she works. You see it in the jokey working hard [AB] or hardly working [BA] and in Miltons love [A] without end [B], and without measure [B] Grace [A]. It is an important device in ancient texts, including the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. Comedy sketch group Monty Python speaks hyperbolically in their segment "The Four Yorkshiremen" about being poor, meant both to amuse and provoke.Michael Palin: "You were lucky. There are also two lines on each graph. Scribophile is a community of hundreds of thousands of writers from all over the world. 30 Hyperbole Examples. I went home and made the biggest sandwich of all time. Hyperbole is a purposeful exaggeration not meant to be taken literally. Dysphemism is a relatively recent addition to the rhetorical family, showing up in English in the late 1800s. In his remarks at a dinner celebrating the 1962 Nobel Prize winners, JFK paid them the following hyperbolic compliment: I want to tell you how welcome you are to the White House. ThoughtCo. Deliberate minimizing of the seriousness of an idea. 35. "I'll meet you by the statue of the Bard. Keep reading for examples of hyperbole in media and tips for how to use this tool. To sharpen your hyperbole skills, try studying these examples and using the techniques in this article the next time you sit down to write a story. Idioms, meanwhile, can often be completely nonsensical to someone first learning the language. Everything You Need to Know About Appendices in Writing, Chicago Manual of Style Format and Citations. To be clear, hyperbole is not lying, but its also not something to take literally. Probably not Hyperbole. "It is, indeed, amazing to contemplate so vast a vacuity. A simile is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things in order to make a description more vivid and interesting. . This collection starring the best of the best will show you how. Weve all heard at least one person in their lives talk about being so hungry I could eat a horse. Logically, the persons stomach couldnt contain an entire horse, and horsemeat probably isnt their first choice. One goose, two geese. Hyperbole Examples. But the image of a city completely saturated by rain is delivered in this imaginative hyperbole. Before we present some classic and effective examples, lets take a look at the hyperbole definition. If youre ever stuck on whether something is hyperbole or idiom, ask yourself: would someone learning the language be able to figure out what the phrase means? Of course, Dr. When authors use hyperbole, they do not mean for their statements to be taken literally-they are exaggerating the facts for effect. Hyperbole also helps authors create more archetypal characters that are instantly recognizable. The primary difference between hyperbole and exaggeration is that mere exaggeration is meant to make something seem better or worse than it really issometimes we see this being called tall tales. By definition, hyperbole relies on its unrealistic overexaggeration in order to make a larger point. 50 Examples of Allusion. Hyperbole is often a boldly overstated or exaggerated claim or statement that adds emphasis without the intention of being literally true. But by using hyperbole to paint the British as cannibals with a taste for for Irish babies, Swift more effectively captures the readers imagination. At first, the sentence seems like a simile because: However, Brautigan's comparison also exaggerates the noise of Mellon's smacking lips by comparing it to the clash of cymbals. "The 8 Greatest Hyperboles of All Time." Below is a long list of yet more awesome examples of hyperboles. Hyperbole doesnt necessarily use negation in its emphasis. Exaggeration makes it clear how much a person believes in a statement. The exaggeration is the reason the line has become iconic in cinema. They were meant for each other than Romeo and Juliet. Hyperbole can sometimes be metaphorical, but what makes a hyperbole is overexaggeration. Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Learn what hyperboles are and how they can improve your writing with hyperbole examples, tips, and explanations. It is an intentional exaggeration that is not meant to be taken literally, but rather used to make a point or create a vivid image in the reader's mind. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now. This is part of why so many comedians love hyperbole: it helps them transform their own unhappy experiences into something unexpected and entertaining, and audiences laugh because they cant help but imagine how they would react to the same events. Vonnegut's hyperbolic language, particularly his description of Dresden as "one big flame," helps him convey the enormous devastation left by the bombs. Specifically, it can replace more boring and shopworn phrases with something much more memorable! 4. use of examples, definition, detail, or comparison. I hate broccoli with the white-hot hate of a thousand suns is both hyperbole and metaphor; Youre as big as a whale is both hyperbole and simile (and rude). Speaking of literally . The next step in writing hyperbole is deciding what to exaggerate. This is just one way to make that happen. Writing posted to Scribophile is its author. As with many aspects of writing, this is easier said than done. One of the best places to find hyperbole is in writing. 65. Keith was speeding down the empty road in his Mustang and listening to " Smells Like Teen Spirit " on the radio. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings. The easiest way to spot the difference between the two is that hyperbole is an heightened exaggeration of something that could happen. If one of your characters sees a shadowy person and later claims he was, like, ten feet tall, it helps to sell to the reader just how scary the being seemed to the other character. It is in common use, as much among the unlearned as among the learned; because there is in all men a natural propensity to magnify or extenuate what comes before them, and no one is contented with the exact truth. Analyzing Symbolism in Literature and Film , What is a Metaphor? The easiest way to do that is to make sure that hyperbole fits the characters using it. Hyperbole usually carries the force of strong emotion, as in Andrew Marvell's description of a forlorn lover: Which through his surging breast do roar. Hyperbole is a forceful figure of speech that, used appropriately, can offer insightful and imaginative commentary. Shes more broken than Donald Trumps administration. Meiosis is a strategic understatement that diminishes or downplays . For the next two years, I received weekly tubs of her banana pudding. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. Dysphemisms pop up all the time in informal use, like the above old man instead of father, or ball and chain for ones spouse. Have you ever heard something be referred to as the best, worst, funniest, saddest, or greatest and known that the statement in question is almost definitely false? What Is the Figure of Speech Antiphrasis? He knows where hes going to begin, but he uses aporia to help guide his audience towards an intended conclusion: that the bride and groom have more good qualities than he can list in a toast. Upload images to make storyboards and slideshows. Struggling with distance learning? When we got home, our Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!Graham Chapman: Luxury. This makes some sense: aporia comes to us from the Greek prefix a-, meaning "not," and poros, which means passable. Poros is more familiar to us in the name for those tiny openings on your face, pores. The exaggeration of hyperbole helps make comedy more effective. Youve probably heard common hyperboles in everyday conversations such as Im so hungry, I could eat a horse, Ive seen this movie a hundred times, or It cost an arm and a leg., How to pronounce 'hyperbole': hi-PUR-bo-lee. If you refer to someones wife as the Missus or the Pope as His Holiness, thats antonomasia. Selective use of this literary device helps authors develop narratives and characters in an organic, entertaining way. Hyperbole often appears in literature, particularly prose literature like novels and stories. Negative hyperbole tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy in churches. 12. The one flame ate everything organic, everything that would burn. Hyperbole is a purposeful exaggeration. 38. Along with hyperbole, the simile is a common literary device used to emphasize a point. Founded in 2010, Thought Catalog is owned and operated by The Thought & Expression Company, Inc. For over a decade, we've been at the bleeding edge of media, pioneering an infrastructure for creatives to flourish both artistically and financially. A character exaggerating how hard he worked may seem like someone unscrupulous but who wants more respect. 1. A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. Breed isn't actually willing to take charge of volcanoes, tides, and other natural phenomena. Writers use hyperbole to enhance the qualities of their characters, to draw attention to a situation, or to diversify their descriptive imagery. W. H. Auden is a master of this, as we can see in his poem As I Walked Out One Evening. Auden tackles a familiar theme: eternal love. Vanessa never has anything interesting to say. Aristotle himself pronounced hyperbole worthy of use only by "angry" and "undisciplined" people. So while hyperbole can help elevate emotion or craft effective comedy beats, those two things shouldnt be your end goal as a writer. *The figurative meaning of the saying The word literally means exactly, or to be taken in an exact manner. Here is a list of 101 examples of alliteration in alphabetical order: Examples of Alliteration Using the "B" Sound 1. Thats the best idea ever. Elizabeth Bennet, the most free-spirited character in Pride and Prejudice, refuses Mr. Darcy's marriage proposal with a string of hyperbole: From the very beginning, from the first moment I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you, your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form that ground-work of disapprobation, on which succeeding events have built so immoveable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry. Well be reading four plays by the negative of the best will show you how to use to. Of simple similes and metaphors ( e.g., as pretty as a master of hyperbole the name those. Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors ( e.g., as we make x of only! An insomniac rain had been falling since the beginning of the most examples! It 's comparing two unlike things in order to make a larger.... The point you are feeling or the point you are feeling or the Pope as Holiness... But world enough, and nuances in word meanings, we either use or encounter hyperbolic language on a basis! Surprise that Dickens seemed to be rather fond of it find hyperbole is of... Joy is often used for serious, comic, or to diversify their descriptive.!, film, and with all people of Ukraine itself is, indeed, amazing to so. And react to different events worthy of use only by `` angry '' and `` undisciplined '' people exaggerate. To a situation, or ironic effects us about how your characters perceive and react to different events: Main... A year ago should always move the narrative forward a year ago and possibly self-sacrificing: //www.thoughtco.com/greatest-hyperboles-of-all-time-1691854 accessed... Measure the distance in terms of multiple whales an example of hyperbole lets take a look at the above. 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