Hyperbole the exaggerated statements that arent meant to be taken literally have spiced up the English language for eons.

Example of hyperbole short. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy Safety How YouTube works Test new features. Your skin is softer than silk. That woman has no self-control.

For example in the hyperbolic statement My backpack weighs a ton the speaker doesnt actually think the backpack weighs a ton nor does he or she intend the listener to think so. Nikolai Gogol s short story The Overcoat begins with a fine example of hyperbole deliberate exaggeration for the sake of emphasis. A great example of hyperbole in literature comes from Paul Bunyans opening remarks in the American folktale of Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.

In The Iliad he said the god Mars cried out as loudly as nine or ten thousand men Surely one man could never generate that much noise but it mustve been a cry that Mars felt from the very depths of his heart. Its a common figure of speech that adds flavor to writing. One thinks of the interstellar spaces of the colossal reaches of the now mythical ether.

Late at night it got so frigid that all spoken words froze solid afore they could be heard. Shes as skinny as a toothpick. Definitions and examples of hyperbole told in a humorous way.

This bag weighs a ton. The example above is a common hyperbole used to emphasis the number of shoes a person has. It is used to overstate a situation and is not intended to be taken literally.

My dad will kill me when he comes home. This provides extra emphasis to prove how extreme a certain situation may be. What is a hyperbole in literature.