Word.ws English Dictionary

hypobole

hypobole noun: a rhetorical figure in which several things are mentioned that seem to make claims against the argument, or in favor of the opposing side, but are then refuted one by one.

Noun

hypobole (countable and uncountable, plural hypoboles)

  1. (rhetoric) A rhetorical figure in which several things are mentioned that seem to make claims against the argument, or in favor of the opposing side, but are then refuted one by one.
  2. (rhetoric) A deliberate, intentional understatement.
    Antonyms:
    hyperbole

Antonyms of hypobole

Forms of hypobole

pluralhypoboles

Origin of hypobole

From Ancient Greek ὑποβολή (hupobolḗ, “a throwing under, a suggesting”), from βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).

Questions about hypobole

What does hypobole mean?
Hypobole means a rhetorical figure in which several things are mentioned that seem to make claims against the argument, or in favor of the opposing side, but are then refuted one by one.
What part of speech is hypobole?
Hypobole is a noun.
What is the plural of hypobole?
The plural of hypobole is hypoboles.

Words near hypobole in the dictionary

  1. hypobiosis
  2. hypobiotic
  3. hypoblast
  4. hypoblastic
  5. hypoblasts
  6. hypobole
  7. hypoboles
  8. hypoborate
  9. hypoborates
  10. hypobradytelic
  11. hypobradytely

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hypobole (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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