Human speech would not be so rich if we did not use metaphors, hyperbole, comparisons, terms and much more, which makes it much brighter, more diverse and meaningful. One of the concepts that we often unconsciously use in vocabulary is exaggeration.
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Let's figure it out: "exaggerate" - what kind of action is this? When do we use it? It turns out that this is a kind of technique in the art of eloquence, which is used by sophists and demagogues to distract the main perception of the interlocutor from the course of events, information, and image of the opponent. That is, a person begins to exaggerate the facts, deliberately distorting reality.
This technique is widely used by the media, for example, the so-called "yellow press". The specific presentation of the material, of course, affects the adequate assessment of the reader and forms in him exactly the opinion about the events and people presented that the customer needs. Exaggerate is an action that the media loves to use when presenting a presidential candidate (this is just an example) inin an unflattering way: they draw the attention of the audience to his mistakes, but not to his talents and competence in the field of public administration.
This also applies to cases where newspapers, magazines and other media deliberately distort the facts of the lives of celebrities in order to profitably beat their intentions with the help of their popularity. It could be promoting a diet or drug allegedly being used by a famous person.
What does it mean to "exaggerate" in acting?
This is a kind of acting technique for actors. As if the artist goes to extremes and deliberately, with the help of facial expressions, laughter, draws attention to the hero and reveals his character, suffering, hidden thoughts, or expresses the main idea of the action. Exaggerated acting was a conscious device in the 20s of the last century, when emotions and experiences were shown in this way. An example is the old silent cinema, when actresses and actors deliberately wringed their hands when expressing feelings, gesticulated pathetically, etc. They began to play realistic later, when this became a feature of the modern artistic style.
Where did this word come from?
In general, "exaggerate" is a word that came to us from other languages. It comes from the Latin word "ultra", which translates as "through, over." In French and German, words that have this Latin root denote excess, exaggeration, distortion, inflation.
The word is perfectly acceptable when it comes to boasting or boasting. The person seems to be trying to attach more importance to his personality than he actually deserves. In such a case, to exaggerate is to act for show, deliberately exaggerating one's talents and virtues.
We have analyzed the concept of "exaggerate". A synonym for the word is "exaggerate". But this is the main meaning, in fact there are many of them:
- to overemphasize;
- distort;
- boast;
- embellish;
- aggravate;
- hyperbolize.
We hope this article has helped you understand this interesting concept. Be eloquent!