Understatement meaning in English

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Definition

an understatement: a restraint in elaborating on something noun

That's an understatement!: That's putting it mildly! That's the least that can be said! To say the least! idiom

Examples

"Bruno : That's an understatement."
"Huge fan is an understatement."

Exercise 1

Bruno says "that's an understatement" in reference to Dr. Badguy's line "I think we got off on the wrong foot."

From the list below, select all the understatements.

There may be more than one correct answer!

Everybody was kung-fu fighting, those kicks were fast as lightning.

After his legs were crushed in the auto accident, he said that the injury hurt a little bit.

I nearly died laughing when he told the joke about the rabbi and the priest.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small technical problem: all four of our engines have exploded.

Everybody was kung-fu fighting, those kicks were fast as lightning.

This sentence is an example of "simile", but it isn't an understatement. "Simile" is a form of expression where one subject is compared to another. In this case the speed of "kicks" are compared to the speed of "lightning".

After his legs were crushed in the auto accident, he said that the injury hurt a little bit.

This is an example of an understatement. After suffering an auto accident in which both legs are crushed, the victim would hurt more than "a little bit". An understatement is a form of speech where a lesser or weaker expression is used where a stronger statement is expected.

I nearly died laughing when he told the joke about the rabbi and the priest.

This sentence is an example of hyperbole, or exaggeration, and it isn't an understatement. The speaker obviously did not come close to dying after hearing the joke, they are simply using an exaggerated metaphor to describe how funny the joke was.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small technical problem: all four of our engines have exploded.

An understatement is a form of speech where a lesser or weaker expression is used where a stronger statement is expected. Here the captain mentions "the small problem" of four engines exploding. Obviously, the explosion of four engines is a major problem which would cause a lot of distress. In this dialogue, Badguy's statement that he and Bruno got off on the wrong foot is an understatement in the sense that what happened between them was very serious: Badguy blackmailed Bruno after kidnapping his monkey!

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