understate
English
Pronunciation
Audio (UK) (file)
Verb
understate (third-person singular simple present understates, present participle understating, simple past and past participle understated)
- (transitive) To state (something) with less completeness than needed; to minimise or downplay.
- To call it a calculated bet understates the risk; it is a Hail Mary pass.
- (transitive) To state (something) with a lack of emphasis, in order to express irony.
- To state a quantity that is too low.
- Coordinate term: underestimate
- The company had been understating its liabilities for years.
Synonyms
- (state with lack of emphasis): trivialize
Antonyms
Related terms
- understated (“restrained, unpretentious”)
- understatement
Translations
to state something with less completeness than needed
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to state a quantity that is too low
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Anagrams
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