Understating

Understating is the act of presenting something as less significant, serious, or extreme than it actually is. This can be achieved through various means, including using milder language, minimizing details, or downplaying the importance of a situation. It is a rhetorical device employed for a range of effects, from humour and understatement to a strategic tool used to maintain a level of reserve or discretion, or sometimes to mislead, depending on the context and the intention of the speaker or writer. Essentially, it's about deliberately presenting something as less than its true or full extent.

Understating meaning with examples

• After winning the lottery, she remarked, "It's a bit of a financial boost." While accurate, this was a significant understatement, considering the millions she'd won. This served to maintain her composure and discretion, rather than appearing boastful, or to keep others at bay, while her friends tried to work out what she'd won!
• The doctor, after finding a tumor, said, "It's something we need to address." This understatement of the severity of the diagnosis was a way of gently breaking the news and preparing the patient without causing undue panic, or even making a more complex diagnosis.
• During the hurricane, a news reporter said, "Conditions might get a little uncomfortable." This was a drastic understatement, as the hurricane was causing widespread devastation. The context of a live broadcast with a need to stay calm, and inform rather than raise the panic may be the motivation.
• Describing the eruption of a volcano, the narrator said, "There was a small puff of smoke." This was a comedic understatement; in reality, a massive cloud of ash had covered the country. The humor here comes from the contrast of the words, and the visual presented by the real events.