understatement

American  

[uhn-der-steyt-muhnt, uhn-der-steyt-] / ˌʌn dərˈsteɪt mənt, ˈʌn dərˌsteɪt- /

noun

1. 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.

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understatement British  

/ ˌʌndəˈsteɪtmənt /

noun

1. the act or an instance of stating something in restrained terms, or as less than it is

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understatement Cultural  

1. A form of irony in which something is intentionally represented as less than it is: “Hank Aaron was a pretty good ball player.”

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Etymology

Origin of understatement

under- + statement

Explanation

You make an understatement when you say a lot less than you could. If you say "We didn't do our best" when your team loses 56 to 0, that's quite an understatement. An understatement can be just the thing to make someone feel better. For example, if you are a terrible dancer and everyone seems to be pointing and laughing at you, your friend might say your style is unique. She's not lying, but she is making sad truth easier to deal with. Understatement can also be used humorously — if you have a really difficult, scary experience, you might say, "Well, that was interesting."

Example Sentences

Updating fans in a personal message, the former Smiths frontman said: "It will take me one year to recover. And that is an understatement."

From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026

To call CF an under-the-radar company may be an understatement.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 11, 2026

Millersburg will be a hotbed of drama—and not all of it on the stage, where Richard will direct his mother’s funeral with the understatement of Cecil B. DeMille.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

“To say this chronology represents, at a minimum, a concerning breach of the spirit of the dismissal order is an understatement, if not an outright violation of it,” Cannon wrote.

From Slate • Feb. 26, 2026

“A bit on the imperfect side, yes,” said Feral with regret, and they just couldn’t maintain their seriousness in the face of such an understatement.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor