Saying "I am so hungry I could eat a horse" uses hyperbole to convey the extent of hunger. (hyperbole: exaggeration, overstatement, deliberate overemphasis) What appeared to be a bank was really a plywood facade. (facade: false front, outward show, misleading appearance)
The auctioneer opened with a grandiose claim that every object in the room had changed the course of human history. (grandiose: overblown, extravagant, exaggerated) A gregarious visitor asked whether the chipped teapot had done so before or after losing its handle. (gregarious: sociable, outgoing, convivial) The auctioneer answered with hyperbole, declaring that kings had trembled at the sound of its lid. (hyperbole: exaggeration, overstatement, extravagant language) The visitor found this hypothetical account amusing but requested something more reliable before raising her bidding card. (hypothetical: supposed, conjectural, speculative)
A forthright assistant explained that the teapot came from a local kitchen and made perfectly ordinary tea. (forthright: direct, candid, frank) Its owner's kindness had not been a facade, but kindness alone did not establish royal ownership. (facade: false front, pretense, misleading appearance) A meticulous examination found no inscription except the maker's name and a small scratch shaped like a fish. (meticulous: careful, painstaking, exacting) The visitor could emulate the assistant's honesty by bidding for the object she saw rather than the legend she had been offered. (emulate: imitate, follow, model herself on)
A second item prompted a flagrant attempt to describe an ordinary garden rake as an ancient ceremonial instrument. (flagrant: glaring, blatant, egregious) The gardener in the front row remained equitable and said the rake was useful even though its biography was not. (equitable: fair, impartial, just) The auctioneer's equivocal reply suggested that usefulness and antiquity were perhaps the same thing after a sufficiently long lunch. (equivocal: ambiguous, unclear, evasive) The assistant chose to elucidate the distinction with dates, receipts, and a photograph taken the previous summer. (elucidate: clarify, explain, make clear)
An imminent argument disappeared when the visitors began sharing the real histories of the objects they had brought. (imminent: impending, approaching, forthcoming) One small box was an enigma because nobody remembered which family member had carved the initials inside it. (enigma: mystery, puzzle, riddle) Its intrinsic interest did not depend on inventing a connection with a famous expedition. (intrinsic: inherent, essential, integral) The owner found it gratifying that people wanted to hear an uncertain family story without demanding an extravagant conclusion. (gratifying: satisfying, pleasing, rewarding)
The owner of a picture offered a specious argument that a cracked frame proved the painting was exceptionally old. (specious: misleading, deceptively plausible, superficially convincing) The assistant distinguished the extrinsic condition of the frame from the separate question of who had painted the image. (extrinsic: external, outside, not inherent) A cursory glance had encouraged a confident story that a more careful examination could not support. (cursory: hasty, superficial, perfunctory) The owner accepted the equitable proposal to describe the visible damage without converting it into a certificate of artistic importance. (equitable: fair, impartial, just)
Another visitor asked whether a prolific local painter's many small sketches were less interesting than a single mysterious canvas. (prolific: productive, fertile, abundant in output) The assistant found that qualitative question more useful than comparing the prices printed on unrelated labels. (qualitative: descriptive, concerned with qualities, nonnumerical) The painter's impeccable attention to ordinary objects gave the sketches a character that did not require an invented history. (impeccable: faultless, flawless, exemplary) A discerning buyer selected the picture she genuinely enjoyed rather than the one with the most extravagant account of its previous owners. (discerning: perceptive, astute, insightful)
The auctioneer's emergent respect for clear evidence changed the questions he asked before preparing his descriptions. (emergent: developing, arising, coming into view) He could still embellish the room, but he no longer embellished the facts to compensate for a modest object. (embellish: decorate, adorn, ornament)
The auctioneer adopted an impeccable rule for the final hour: clearly separate what was known from what was merely guessed. (impeccable: faultless, flawless, exemplary) His exemplary effort did not erase the earlier claims, but it made the remaining descriptions much easier to trust. (exemplary: commendable, admirable, praiseworthy) A fortuitous meeting between two visitors even reunited a missing drawer with the small desk from which it had come. (fortuitous: chance, accidental, unplanned) The auction ended with profuse thanks for the assistant, who had made ordinary objects interesting without pretending they were something else. (profuse: abundant, copious, lavish)