UNDERSTATEMENT

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

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)