understatementnoun [ S or U ]
uk/ˌʌn.dəˈsteɪt.mənt/us/ˌʌn.dɚˈsteɪt.mənt/a statement that describes something in a way that makes it seem less important, serious, bad, etc. than it really is, or the act of making such statements:
To say that her resignation was a shock would be an understatement - it caused panic.
"It didn't go well? " "That's the understatement of the year/decade/century. It was a disaster."
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Exaggerating & playing down
- blow sth out of proportion idiom
- drama queen
- dramatize
- exaggeration
- lard
- lay
- make a meal (out) of sth idiom
- make much of sth idiom
- make sth of sth
- meal
- over-egg the pudding idiom
- overboard
- overplay
- overstatement
- pad
- pudding
- soft-pedal
- stretch
- stretch the truth idiom
- talk sth down
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