Meaning & use
understatement
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Meanings
nouncountable
A remark that makes something sound smaller, milder or less important than it really is, either by mistake or for effect.
Grammar: Countable: an understatement, a gross understatement. Often follows a statement as a comment: That is an understatement.
Patterns
- it is an understatement to say that
- a gross understatement
Saying the film was long is an understatement; it lasted four hours.
It would be an understatement to call her a good cook.
The report was criticized as a serious understatement of the risks.
noununcountable
A calm, restrained way of speaking, writing or designing that avoids drama or show.
Grammar: Uncountable when it describes a style: she speaks with understatement.
Patterns
- with understatement
- a master of understatement
The British are often said to be masters of understatement.
The room is decorated with elegant understatement.
He described his injury with typical understatement.
Word forms
| plural | understatements |
|---|
Common combinations
- a gross understatement
- Calling it a minor problem is a gross understatement.
- the understatement of the year
- Saying it was chilly was the understatement of the year.
- typical understatement
- With typical understatement, she called the marathon a short run.
- an understatement to say
- It is an understatement to say we were tired.
- a masterpiece of understatement
- The letter was a masterpiece of understatement.
- deliberate understatement
- His deliberate understatement made the joke funnier.
Synonyms and how they differ
- underplaying
- Underplaying is the act of making something seem less important, while understatement is the statement itself.
- restraint
- Restraint means self-control in general, while understatement is specifically a way of speaking or presenting.
- litotes
- Litotes is a rhetorical device that denies the opposite, such as not bad for good, so it is narrower than understatement.
- modesty
- Modesty is about not boasting about yourself, whereas understatement can be about anything.
Opposites
Word family
- understate verb
- to describe as smaller or less important than it is
- understated adjective
- simple and not showy
- state verb
- to say something clearly
- statement noun
- something said or written
Commonly confused: understatement or overstatement? understatement or understanding?
understatement vs overstatement
An overstatement exaggerates something, while an understatement makes it seem smaller.
understatement vs understanding
Understanding means comprehension or sympathy. It only looks similar to understatement.
Practice
After a hurricane destroyed half the town, someone says, It was a bit of a mess. This remark is ___.
Choose one answer.
Calling widespread destruction a bit of a mess makes it sound milder than it is, so it is an understatement. An exaggeration would make it sound worse.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “understatement”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.