释义
[ uhn-der-steyt ] SHOW IPA
/ ˌʌn dərˈsteɪt / PHONETIC RESPELLING
SEE SYNONYMS FOR understate ON THESAURUS.COM
verb (used with object), un·der·stat·ed, un·der·stat·ing. to state or represent less strongly or strikingly than the facts would bear out; set forth in restrained, moderate, or weak terms: The casualty lists understate the extent of the disaster.
Origin of understate First recorded in 1815–25; under- + state
OTHER WORDS FROM understate un·der·state·ment [uhn-der-steyt -muh nt, uhn -der-steyt-], /ˌʌn dərˈsteɪt mənt, ˈʌn dərˌsteɪt-/, noun Words nearby understate underspin, understaffed, understand, understandable, understanding, understate , understated, understatement, understeer, understock, understood
Dictionary.com UnabridgedBased on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Example sentences from the Web for understate I don't want to understate either, however; these are the major chronic diseases we should be expecting Medicaid to help.
Study: Giving People Government Health Insurance May Not Make them Any Healthier | Megan McArdle| May 1, 2013| DAILY BEAST
To say she was disturbed by the results would be to understate her reaction.
Hitler’s Strange Afterlife in India | Dilip D’Souza| November 30, 2012| DAILY BEAST
Yet such tempered remarks may understate the significance of the challenge awaiting Krueger.
Washington’s New Punching Bag | Daniel Stone| August 29, 2011| DAILY BEAST
I do not understate the complexity and sensitivity of achieving such a global agreement.
The Crisis We Forgot | Tony Blair| March 3, 2009| DAILY BEAST
The afternoon press of New York is not apt to understate the facts of a given case.
The Spenders | Harry Leon Wilson
To say that the story moves is vastly to understate its headlong rapidity of action.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, May 10, 1916 | Various
Whether these figures overstate or understate the truth, the school authorities of the country should find out.
Civics and Health | William H. Allen
That is the due of boys who overstate, and men who understate , their age in order to serve their country in the field.
Mr. Punch's History of the Great War | Punch
There is, of course, no call to understate the importance of material goods or of manual labor.
The Place of Science in Modern Civilisation and Other Essays | Thorstein Veblen
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British Dictionary definitions for understate verb to state (something) in restrained terms, often to obtain an ironic effect
to state that (something, such as a number) is less than it is
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Words related to understate minimize, downplay, lessen, underrate, undervalue, devalue