understatement

/ˌʌndərˈsteɪtmənt/

/əndəˈsteɪtmənt/

Other forms: understatements

You make an understatement when you say a lot less than you could. If you say "We didn't do our best" when your team loses 56 to 0, that's quite an understatement.

An understatement can be just the thing to make someone feel better. For example, if you are a terrible dancer and everyone seems to be pointing and laughing at you, your friend might say your style is unique. She's not lying, but she is making sad truth easier to deal with. Understatement can also be used humorously — if you have a really difficult, scary experience, you might say, "Well, that was interesting."

Definitions of understatement

1. noun

   a statement that is restrained in ironic contrast to what might have been said
   antonyms:

   overstatement

   making to seem more important than it really is

   types:

   litotes, meiosis

   understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary)

   type of:

   statement

   a message that is stated or declared; a communication (oral or written) setting forth particulars or facts etc