understatement

American  

[uhn-der-stayt-muhnt, uhn-der-stayt-] / 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

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Etymology

Origin of understatement

under- + statement

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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

By the end, the hyperbolic term “madman” seems like an understatement for Irwin’s subjects, many of whom are, at a minimum, fantasists.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

When Dolly Parton sang, “Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living,” it was an understatement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

It is an understatement to say this triggers a cascade of questions.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

"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

“Weird is like the biggest understatement of all time,” he said, shoving his hands into his hair.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

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

“Obviously, they’re going through some of their own issues,” Maryland coach Mike Locksley said Tuesday in one of the understatements of the college football season.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 14, 2023

The average of these averages is 101 per cent. for the entire club, and is probably within the truth; for most of the individual figures which go to make up this result are understatements, not overstatements.

From How to Live Rules for Healthful Living Based on Modern Science by Irving Fisher

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