understate
Syllables: un·der·state/ʌndəˈsteɪt/
understate verb: to state (something) with less completeness than needed; to minimise or downplay.
Verb
understate (third-person singular simple present understates, present participle understating, simple past and past participle understated)
- To state (something) with less completeness than needed; to minimise or downplay.
- To call this decision a calculated bet understates the risk; it is a Hail Mary pass.
- Synonyms:
- downplay, trivialize, bagatellize, banalize, belittle, cut down, de-emphasize, denigrate, degrade, deprecate
- Antonyms:
- overstate, exaggerate, big up, cut it fat, hyperbolize, overcharge, overdo, overemphasize, play up, stretch
- To state (something) with an intentional lack of emphasis, in order to express irony.
- She is the queen of understatement: she understated her critique masterfully.
- To state a quantity that is too low.
- The company had been understating its liabilities for years.
- Synonyms:
- underrate, misunderestimate, sell short, underapproximate, underestimate, underguess, underjudge, underreckon
- Antonyms:
- overstate, overapproximate, overestimate, overhold, overrate, overreckon, overthink
understate meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
understate in Tamil
- குறைத்துக்கூறு
understate in Urdu
- گھٹا کر بیان کرنا, کم بیانی کرنا
understate in Malayalam
- downplay, play down, underrate
- കുറച്ചു പറയുക, മതിപ്പുകുറച്ചു പ്രതിപാദിക്കുക, താഴ്ത്തിപ്പറയുക, വില കുറച്ചുകാണുക, വിലകുറച്ചുനിരൂപിക്കുക, വിലയിടിച്ചു കാണിക്കുക
understate in Kannada
- ಇರುವುದನ್ನು ಕಡಿಮೆ ಮಾಡಿ ಹೇಳು, ಕಡಮೆ ಬೆಲೆಕಟ್ಟು, ಸತ್ವವನ್ನು ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಗುರುತಿಸದಿರು
Synonyms of understate
20 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
- overstate
- exaggerate
- big up
- overdo
- overemphasize
- play up
- stretch
- three-sheet
- overapproximate
- overestimate
7 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of understate
| third-person singular present | understates |
|---|---|
| present participle | understating |
| past participle | understated |
| past | understated |
Origin of understate
From under- + state.
Words formed from understate
Questions about understate
- What does understate mean?
- Understate means to state (something) with less completeness than needed; to minimise or downplay.
- What is understate in Tamil?
- Understate in Tamil is குறைத்துக்கூறு. See Understate meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is understate?
- Understate is a verb.
- How do you pronounce understate?
- Understate is pronounced /ʌndəˈsteɪt/.
- What is the past tense of understate?
- The past tense of understate is understated.
Words near understate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: understate (page history and authors); understate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); understate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); understate (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); understate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-understate.wav.
Cite this entry: “understate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/understate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.