誇張

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 誇張 is a noun read こちょう, meaning exaggeration or overstatement. It forms the verb 誇張する.
• Basic usage: It can suggest that a story contains some exaggeration or describe deliberately avoiding overstatement when presenting facts.
  • 彼の話には少し誇張が含まれているようです。 suggests that his story contains some exaggeration; 商品の特徴を誇張せず、事実だけを説明しました。 says that only the facts were explained without overstating the product's features.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• 少し誇張が含まれる
  • 少し limits the degree, and ようです presents an assessment rather than certainty.
• 誇張せず
  • せず is a negative connective form linking not exaggerating with the following factual explanation.
• 誇張 and 嘘
  • 誇張 inflates some aspect of a fact, while 嘘 denotes a statement that is not true.