View synonyms for understate

understate

[ uhn-der-steyt ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

verb (used with object)

, un·der·stat·ed, un·der·stat·ing.

to state or represent less strongly or strikingly than the facts would bear out; set forth in restrained, moderate, or weak terms:
The casualty lists understate the extent of the disaster.

understate

/ ˌʌndəˈsteɪt /

First recorded in 1815–25; under- + state

I don't want to understate either, however; these are the major chronic diseases we should be expecting Medicaid to help.

To say she was disturbed by the results would be to understate her reaction.

On Klaidman's telling ... wow, did those conservatives understate the case.

Yet such tempered remarks may understate the significance of the challenge awaiting Krueger.

I do not understate the complexity and sensitivity of achieving such a global agreement.

Jimmy yelled with joy, and thanked the printer for his intelligent misreading of understate. '

We may be sure, too, that her informant did not understate the personal disadvantages of Sir Abraham Lumley.

The Professor did not understate the case when he had intimated that he was somewhat out of practice at equestrian exercises.

But whilst he certainly did not understate the income, there is reason for thinking he greatly exaggerated it.

On the contrary, there were considerations that would dispose him to understate his income to those correspondents.

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