Histrionic vs. Hyperbole — What's the Difference?

Excessively theatrical or dramatic in character or style

Hyperbole (, listen) (adjective form hyperbolic, listen) is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally 'growth').

Melodramatic behaviour designed to attract attention

Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally

An actor.

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a year or This book weighs a ton.

Of or relating to actors or acting

Deliberate or unintentional overstatement, particularly extreme overstatement.

Excessively dramatic or emotional; affected

(countable) An instance or example of such overstatement.

Of or relating to actors or acting.

A hyperbola.

(by extension) Excessively dramatic or emotional, especially with the intention to draw attention.

A figure of speech in which the expression is an evident exaggeration of the meaning intended to be conveyed, or by which things are represented as much greater or less, better or worse, than they really are; a statement exaggerated fancifully, through excitement, or for effect.

Of or relating to the stage or a stageplayer; befitting a theatre; theatrical.

Extravagant exaggeration

Affectedly dramatic; insincerely emotional; - sometimes used in a bad sense.

Characteristic of acting or a stage performance; often affected;