Definition: Hyperbole, a type of figure of speech, uses exaggeration or overstatement for emphasis. Mark Twain uses hyperbole to add humor and vividness to the descriptions throughout his travel book Roughing It, as in this example about the ears of a "jackass rabbit": "He is just like any other rabbit except that he is from one-third to twice as large and has longer legs in proportion to his size, and has the most preposterous ears that ever were mounted on any creature but a jackass. When he is sitting quiet, thinking about his sins, or is absent-minded or unapprehensive of danger, his majestic ears project above him conspicuously: but the breaking of a twig will scare him nearly to death."
Also Known As: anthropomorphic
