understate
English
Etymology
From under- + stateCategory:English terms prefixed with under-#STATE.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʌndəˈsteɪt/Category:English 3-syllable words#UNDERSTATECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#UNDERSTATE
Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#UNDERSTATEAudio (Southern England): (file) - Hyphenation: un‧der‧state
Verb
understate (third-person singular simple present understates, present participle understating, simple past and past participle understated)Category:English lemmas#UNDERSTATECategory:English verbs#UNDERSTATECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#UNDERSTATECategory:Pages with entries#UNDERSTATECategory:Pages with 1 entry#UNDERSTATE
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#UNDERSTATE) To state (something) with less completeness than needed; to minimise or downplay.
- Synonyms: downplay, trivialize; see also Thesaurus:trivialize
- Antonyms: overstate, exaggerate; see also Thesaurus:exaggerate
- To call this decision a calculated bet understates the risk; it is a Hail Mary pass.Category:English terms with usage examples#UNDERSTATE
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#UNDERSTATE) To state (something) with an intentional lack of emphasis, in order to express irony.
- She is the queen of understatement: she understated her critique masterfully.Category:English terms with usage examples#UNDERSTATE
- To state a quantity that is too low.
- Synonyms: underrate, underrate; see also Thesaurus:underestimate
- Antonyms: overstate; see also Thesaurus:overestimate
- Coordinate term: underestimate
- The company had been understating its liabilities for years.Category:English terms with usage examples#UNDERSTATE
Usage notes
Careless usage often blunders regarding understating and overstating: If the speaker or writer considers X very important, then the importance of X should not be understated (clearly and precisely speaking) and cannot be overstated (speaking in a way that is literally false [any fact can be overstated] but hyperbolically intentional and figurative). It is not uncommon to hear that "the importance of X cannot be understated [sic]" as a flubbed way of expressing what was meant (i.e., that it [precisely] should not be understated or [figuratively] cannot be overstated). To say that X "should not be overstated" is to emphasize the limits of its importance, but a careless speaker or writer may have meant the opposite.
Related terms
- understated (“restrained, unpretentious”)Category:English links with manual fragments#UNDERSTATE
- understatement