understatement

noun

un·​der·​state·​ment ˌən-dər-ˈstāt-mənt 

plural understatements

1

: a statement that represents something as smaller or less intense, or less important than it really is : a statement that understates something

It is an understatement to say that the Internet has made life far more convenient for staggeringly many people.

—Cass R. Sunstein

also : the act of understating something or the practice of making such statements

understatement of population growth

To say Britain isn't good at coping with snow would be to exercise British understatement.

—Catherine Mayer

We have been taught to value terseness and understatement …

—Irving Howe

2

: the avoidance of obvious emphasis or embellishment : an understated condition, appearance, etc.

Sure, glamour is still the operative word regarding fashion, but where flamboyance once ruled, there is now understatement and classic elegance.

—Premiere

He capitalizes on his reputation for understatement by saving huge sonorities for significant occasions; as a result, his rare musical outbursts seem not so much theatrical as visceral, as if they were blows sustained in real time.

—Alex Ross

Examples of understatement in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

What’s less arguable is the quality of Kinnear’s performance, a fine study in comic understatement at first that modulates into a delicately limned portrait of pain barely stifled. — Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 21 July 2026

To say that the event was star-studded would be a vast understatement. — Marlow Stern, Variety, 19 July 2026

To say that the singer is excited for the live trek is an understatement. — Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 17 July 2026

To say that Cucurella was pleased, when the Spanish side outwitted the French in the semifinal, would be an understatement. — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 17 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1799, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing understatement

• the understatement of the year

Rhymes for understatement

• abatement
• affreightment
• misstatement
• restatement
• overstatement
• reinstatement
• statement