dexagération

Dexagération is a term used in contemporary French discourse to describe the phenomenon of portraying a person, group, or technology as more capable, agile, or effective than it is in reality. The term functions as a noun and is used mainly in analyses of rhetoric, media, and policy debates. It is not yet standardized in dictionaries and remains a niche neologism.

Etymology and formation: The word appears to combine dexterité (skill, nimbleness) with a productive suffix -gération, modeled on terms like magnification or construction to indicate a process or tendency. As a neologism, its exact semantic boundaries vary by author.

Usage: Dexagération is applied to critique claims about artificial intelligence, automation, data analytics, or organizational performance that are deemed overstated. For example, commentators might accuse marketing material of dexagération if it asserts that a system will autonomously handle complex tasks with human-level judgment. In academia, it is used to discuss credibility and evidence in technology assessments.

Critique: Proponents argue that dexagération helps unpack promotional rhetoric and encourages more rigorous evaluation. Critics warn that over-rigorous policing of claims could obscure genuine advances and create marketing suspicion.

See also: hyperbole, exaggeration, misrepresentation, discourse analysis, neologism.