understate
/ˌʌndəˈsteɪt/ (bre, ipa) · [ˈʌndɚstˌet] /ˌʌndərˈsteɪt/ (ame, ipa) · [ˈʌndɚstˌet] /ˌən-dər-ˈstāt How to pronounce understate (audio)/ (ame, mw)
understate — verb
- understatepresent simple I / you / we / they
- understateshe / she / it
- understatedpast simple
- understating-ing form
1. to describe facts or a situation using words that make it appear less significan
to describe facts or a situation using words that make it appear less significant or less severe than it truly is, often done to avoid causing worry or attracting negative attention
The company's annual report understated the amount of waste released into the river.
understate + noun phrase (amount/number/scale)
Evelyn understated her back pain so her children would not cancel their holiday plans.
understate + [symptom/problem] to avoid worrying others
During the interview, Hoa understated his role in the successful product launch.
The official warning understated the danger, and many residents chose to stay in their homes.
Yuki understated the difficulty of the exam to keep her classmates from worrying too much.
- downplay
more informal; often used when someone tries to reduce the perceived importance of something ('She downplayed her injury')
- play down
phrasal verb, informal; similar to downplay ('The government played down the risks of the new policy')
- minimize
can imply reducing the actual size or importance rather than just the description, but often overlaps in meaning ('He tried to minimize the impact of his mistake')
- trivialize
stronger negative connotation; suggests making something serious seem unimportant ('The report trivialized the victims' suffering')
- overstate
direct opposite — to describe something as larger, more important, or more serious than it really is
- exaggerate
more common in everyday language; to make something seem larger or worse than it is
文法句型
understate + noun phrase
be understated (passive)
用法筆記
Common in news reports, financial disclosures, and health contexts. The passive form ('the damage was understated') is frequent when the agent is unknown or irrelevant. Distinguish from 'underestimate', which refers to a mistaken judgement rather than a deliberate choice of description.