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understatement

un·der·state·ment
U u

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [uhn-der-steyt-muh nt, uhn-der-steyt-]
    • /ˌʌn dərˈsteɪt mənt, ˈʌn dərˌsteɪt-/
    • /ˌʌn.dəˈsteɪt.mənt/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [uhn-der-steyt-muh nt, uhn-der-steyt-]
    • /ˌʌn dərˈsteɪt mənt, ˈʌn dərˌsteɪt-/

Definitions of understatement word

  • noun understatement the act or an instance of understating, or representing in a weak or restrained way that is not borne out by the facts: The journalist wrote that the earthquake had caused some damage. This turned out to be a massive understatement of the devastation. 1
  • countable noun understatement If you say that a statement is an understatement, you mean that it does not fully express the extent to which something is true. 0
  • uncountable noun understatement Understatement is the practice of suggesting that things have much less of a particular quality than they really have. 0
  • noun understatement the act or an instance of stating something in restrained terms, or as less than it is 0
  • noun understatement An incomplete statement, particularly. 0

Information block about the term

Parts of speech for Understatement

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

understatement popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 55% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

understatement usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for understatement

noun understatement

  • adumbration — to produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch.
  • alliteration — Alliteration is the use in speech or writing of several words close together which all begin with the same letter or sound.
  • anaphora — the use of a word such as a pronoun that has the same reference as a word previously used in the same discourse. In the sentence John wrote the essay in the library but Peter did it at home, both did and it are examples of anaphora
  • anti-strophe — the part of an ancient Greek choral ode answering a previous strophe, sung by the chorus when returning from left to right.
  • antistrophe — the second of two movements made by a chorus during the performance of a choral ode

Antonyms for understatement

noun understatement

  • hyperbole — obvious and intentional exaggeration.
  • aggrandisement — an act or instance of aggrandizing, or increasing in size, or intensity: aggrandizement of mercantile trade in the early colonies.
  • aggrandizement — If someone does something for aggrandizement, they do it in order to get power, wealth, and importance for themselves.
  • embellishment — A decorative detail or feature added to something to make it more attractive.
  • exaggeration — A statement that represents something as better or worse than it really is.

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See also

Matching words

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