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Understatement   /ˈəndərstˌeɪtmənt/   Listen
Understatement

noun
1.
A statement that is restrained in ironic contrast to what might have been said.





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"Understatement" Quotes from Famous Books



... probably due to our passion for understatement and that we have inherited wise and tested regulations that the British are a law abiding race; but I think if the Americans were given a chance they would be the same. I can only say, if they are not, Democracy will prove as great ...
— My Impresssions of America • Margot Asquith
... Dr. D. Z. Sheffield, for many years a missionary of the American Board in Tung-chou, whether this statement was accurate, he replied that it was not only true, but that it was an understatement of the truth. ...
— An Inevitable Awakening • ARTHUR JUDSON BROWN
... case I don't make it," Chase continued, making the understatement of the war with a perfectly straight face, "take care of the crew. They're a good bunch—just a bit too eager for the real Navy—but good. I've tried to make them into spacemen and they've resented me for it. I've tried to protect them and they've ...
— A Question of Courage • Jesse Franklin Bone
... woman with any spirit did. He hasn't any more of an idea of what he possesses by legal right than the man I discovered driving in a cart one of the best hunters I ever had in my stables. To say that he doesn't appreciate you is a ludicrous understatement. Any woman would ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... about the speed at which ordinary fertilizers, plant stimulants or hormones took hold, but commonsense told me nothing like this had ever happened so quickly. I had been indulging in a little legitimate puffery in saying the inoculant worked miracles, but if anything that had been an understatement. It just went to show how impossible it is for a real salesman ...
— Greener Than You Think • Ward Moore
... virtues and defects, just as another young member of the House—Mr. E.J.C. Morton—has the perfect platform manner, also with its virtues and defects. Sir Edward Grey speaks with grace, ease, with that tendency to modest understatement, to the icy coldness of genteel conversation, which everybody will recognize as the House of Commons style. This means perfect correctness, especially in an official position; but, on the other hand, it lacks warmth. It is only Mr. Gladstone, perhaps, among the members of ...
— Sketches In The House (1893) • T. P. O'Connor


Words linked to "Understatement" :   understate, meiosis, statement, overstatement, litotes


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