un‧der‧state‧ment /ˌʌndəˈsteɪtmənt $ -dər-/
noun [
Word Family: verb:
state,
understate ≠
overstate;
noun:
statement,
understatement ≠
overstatement;
adjective:
understated ≠
OVERSTATED]
1. [countable] a statement that is not strong enough to express how good, bad, impressive etc something really is:
To say the movie was bad is an understatement. ‘It wasn’t very easy to find the house.’ ‘That’s got to be the understatement of the year!’2. [uncountable] the practice of making something seem to have less of a particular quality than it really has
with understatement ‘We have not done quite well enough,’ Macmillan said, with characteristic understatement. [TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲