noun

• The presentation of something as being smaller or less good or important than it really is.

  ‘a master of English understatement’

  More example sentences

  • ‘to say I am delighted is an understatement’
  • ‘He was a natural diplomat, too, cool as a breeze under pressure and a master of understatement.’
  • ‘She is at once fiercely competitive and ladylike, a fighter to the death and yet a model of polite understatement.’
  • ‘The reading of his will raised some eyebrows, to riot in understatement.’
  • ‘More than half a century later the country has moved from understatement to groundless exaggeration.’
  • ‘It's a hilarious film full of gems of comic absurdity that are mixed in with nonchalant understatement.’
  • ‘For those in need of a true soul album, loaded with understatement, look no further.’
  • ‘Either way, it is clear he was a writer who preferred hint and understatement, a wink instead of a nudge.’
  • ‘As with all his films to date, his understatement proves to be his greatest strength.’
  • ‘I only read it for the first time last year and it's no understatement to say it was a life-changing read.’
  • ‘This song set the tone for the downbeat understatement that the event traditionally displays.’
  • ‘Evan has a way of combining generous understatement with a big grin that is very endearing.’
  • ‘The film was an exercise in stylish understatement, and was all the better for it.’
  • ‘One of the ways he achieves the element of understatement is by usually talking quietly.’
  • ‘To say the game could have done with a goal then is understatement.’
  • ‘The sequence is thus all the more powerful for its brevity and understatement.’
  • ‘This is a harrowing play made all the more poignant by its understatement.’
  • ‘However he carries it off with real pathos and at times almost heroic understatement.’
  • ‘Apart from his many other talents, he is also master of the understatement.’
  • ‘Clearly, living so long and so intimately with other people has made him a master of the understatement.’
  • ‘To say the man was large would be an understatement beyond all understatements.’

  Synonyms

  minimization, trivialization, euphemism

  View synonyms