un ‧ der ‧ state ‧ ment /ˌʌndəˈsteɪtmənt $ -dər-/ BrE AmE noun
[ Word Family: verb : ↑ state , ↑ understate ≠ ↑ overstate ; noun : ↑ statement , ↑ understatement ≠ ↑ overstatement ; adjective : ↑ understated ≠ OVERSTATED ]
1 . [countable] a statement that is not strong enough to express how good, bad, impressive etc something really is:
To say the movie was bad is an understatement.
‘It wasn’t very easy to find the house.’ ‘That’s got to be the understatement of the year!’
2 . [uncountable] the practice of making something seem to have less of a particular quality than it really has
with understatement
‘We have not done quite well enough,’ Macmillan said, with characteristic understatement.