Adjacent Words

understate definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: represent as less significant or important [syn: understate, minimize, minimise, downplay] [ant: amplify, exaggerate, hyperbolise, hyperbolize, magnify, overdraw, overstate]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Date: 1824 1. to represent as less than is the case <understate taxable income> 2. to state or present with restraint especially for effect • understatement noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 express in greatly or unduly restrained terms. 2 represent as being less than it actually is. Derivatives: understatement n. understater n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Understate Un`der*state", v. t. To state or represent less strongly than may be done truthfully.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(understates, understating, understated) If you understate something, you describe it in a way that suggests that it is less important or serious than it really is. The government chooses deliberately to understate the increase in prices... ? overstate, exaggerate VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. State too low.

Moby Thesaurus

belie, burlesque, camouflage, caricature, color, disguise, distort, dress up, embellish, embroider, exaggerate, falsify, fudge, garble, gild, gloss, gloss over, mask, miscite, miscolor, misquote, misreport, misrepresent, misstate, misteach, overdraw, overstate, parody, pervert, slant, strain, titivate, travesty, trick out, twist, varnish, warp, whitewash, wrench