UNDERSTATE

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

Present simple: I / you / we / they understate ... he / she / it understates

Past simple: understated

Past participle: understated

-ing form: understating

Meaning:

Represent as less significant or important

Synonyms:

downplay; minimise; minimize; understate

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "understate" is one way to...):

inform (impart knowledge of some fact, state of affairs, or event to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "understate"):

trivialise; trivialize (make trivial or insignificant)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

overstate (to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth)

Derivation:

understatement (a statement that is restrained in ironic contrast to what might have been said)