Understate

//ʌndəˈsteɪt// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To state (something) with less completeness than needed; to minimise or downplay. transitive

    "To call this decision a calculated bet understates the risk; it is a Hail Mary pass."

  2. 2
    represent as less significant or important wordnet
  3. 3
    To state (something) with an intentional lack of emphasis, in order to express irony. transitive

    "She is the queen of understatement: she understated her critique masterfully."

  4. 4
    To state a quantity that is too low.

    "The company had been understating its liabilities for years."

Synonyms

All synonyms
downplayminimizeunderestimatebagatellizebanalizebelie

Example

More examples

"Brits tend to understate things."

Etymology

From under- + state.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.