Exaggeration/Hyperbole
Exaggeration/Hyperbole: blowing something up past what is true.
How to spot it
Blowing something up past what is true: "the worst president in history", "the most dangerous bill ever written", "destroyed the economy". Superlatives and absolutes, like "never", "always", "everyone" and "total", are the usual signs.
What doesn't count
A big claim backed by a big number isn't exaggeration. "Prices rose 40% in two years" is checkable. Obvious figures of speech that no one takes literally, like "a mountain of paperwork", aren't the technique either.
Real examples
Flagged by Semblen's model in the last 90 days and picked by rule, not by hand: the newest first, news rotated across left, center and right outlets, at most two ads from any one race. The model has false positives, a quote in a news article may be the outlet reporting what someone else said, and an ad may be quoting its opponent. Follow each link to check it in context.
In the news
“killed millions of babies”
“greatest con job ever perpetuated on the world”
“MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY”
“THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY”
“the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY!”
“endless influx of rapists and murderers”
“easily America's Greatest Hero”
In 2026 campaign ads
“becoming a trillionaire”
“most corrupt politician in Texas”
“it will ruin the entire country”
“corruption of the highest order”
“surrender our borders to the drug cartels”
In government statements
“WORST OF THE WORST”
“break the thing down to the foundation and go down this dark, dangerous, deadly road to communism”
“America is stronger than ever”
“blown up our economy”
“regulate just about anything that moves”
“saying they want to rip it in half”
Related techniques
Something wrong or unclear on this page?
Tell us. A person reads every note. Use Yes / No under any example if it isn't really exaggeration/hyperbole: two readers saying no takes it off the page.
Check something yourself
Paste an article, a speech or a video link into the analyzer and Semblen marks each sentence that uses exaggeration/hyperbole or any other technique, and says why. It flags manipulation techniques, not political tilt.