blow out of proportions
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Become exaggerated or distorted beyond reality
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Trở nên phóng đại hoặc bị bóp méo quá mức so với thực tế
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: inflate something out of its normal size
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The media blew the story out of proportions
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “blow out of proportions” mean?
Become exaggerated or distorted beyond reality Literally: inflate something out of its normal size
Is “blow out of proportions” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.