Which device involves extreme exaggeration?

Which device involves extreme exaggeration?

• A. Irony
• B. Paronomasia
• C. Hyperbole
• D. Idiom

Answer: (C)

Extreme exaggeration used for emphasis or humorous effect is the device at play here. That is hyperbole. It’s a figure of speech where the statement goes beyond literal truth to make something seem much bigger or more dramatic than it really is—like saying, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.” The idea is to highlight how strong the feeling or situation appears, not to state a factual claim. For contrast, irony involves saying the opposite of what you mean, often to be amusing or pointed; paronomasia is wordplay based on similar sounds or multiple meanings (a pun); and an idiom is a common saying whose meaning isn’t obvious from the individual words (like “kick the bucket”). So hyperbole is the one that directly signals an intentional overstatement.

Extreme exaggeration used for emphasis or humorous effect is the device at play here. That is hyperbole. It’s a figure of speech where the statement goes beyond literal truth to make something seem much bigger or more dramatic than it really is—like saying, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.” The idea is to highlight how strong the feeling or situation appears, not to state a factual claim.

For contrast, irony involves saying the opposite of what you mean, often to be amusing or pointed; paronomasia is wordplay based on similar sounds or multiple meanings (a pun); and an idiom is a common saying whose meaning isn’t obvious from the individual words (like “kick the bucket”). So hyperbole is the one that directly signals an intentional overstatement.