understatement

American  

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

noun

• understatements
  plural

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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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• understatements
  plural

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

See Examples For:

understatement understatements

"To say that the circumstances surrounding how they came to be in the bath are unusual would be an understatement," Raper said in the judgement.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

The long-suffering younger Forster described his father, in an understatement, as having “a tendency toward self-love, pride, and a certain scholarly vanity.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

To say that things have dramatically changed in the United States since I was a child in the 1960s is an understatement.

From Salon ● May 29, 2026

To say his first season in charge did not go to plan would be an understatement.

From BBC ● May 27, 2026

The understatement of the year, was a phrase my mother uses.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

As for the camp factor, many massive understatements in the script will trigger appreciative howls of laughter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025

He still brakes for bad puns and double-negative understatements, but he avoids the kind of under-metabolized research that sometimes alienated his early readers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2025

It was one of the greatest understatements of all time.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2025

“He’ll tell you he ‘plays a little keyboard,’ but that is one of the most tremendous understatements ever.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 26, 2016

"Do you often make understatements like that, Lord Virzal?"

From Last Enemy by H. Beam Piper