| Library / English Dictionary |
UNDERSTATEMENT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A statement that is restrained in ironic contrast to what might have been said
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("understatement" is a kind of...):
statement (a message that is stated or declared; a communication (oral or written) setting forth particulars or facts etc)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "understatement"):
litotes; meiosis (understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary))
Antonym:
overstatement (making to seem more important than it really is)
Derivation:
understate (represent as less significant or important)
