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🇩🇪German Source WordCode: DE

Untertreibung

Pronunciation / Transliteration: ʊntɐˈtʁaɪbʊŋ

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Understatement/ˈʌn.dɚˌsteɪt.mənt/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #4500 frequency
Full Thesaurus
🇩🇪 Example Sentence in German:

"Zu sagen, dass der Sturm 'ein bisschen Schaden angerichtet hat', war eine grobe Untertreibung."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    The act of presenting something as less important or serious than it actually is.

    "Saying that the hurricane caused a bit of damage was a gross understatement."
  2. 2

    A statement that minimizes the severity or importance of a situation.

    "Her comment about the project being 'a little challenging' was a gross understatement given the difficulties we faced."
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Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the verb 'understate', formed in the late 19th century from 'under-' (prefix meaning 'less than normal') and 'state' (from Old French 'estater', ultimately deriving from Latin 'status'). It evolved to describe a rhetorical strategy or representation that deliberately presents something as being much smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.

Quick Vocabulary Retention Check

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10 Global Lexicons: How "Understatement" is said worldwide

Click any language below to open its dedicated Language to English dictionary page with native script & transliteration

🇫🇷French → English

sous-estimation

Transliteration: su ɛstimaʃjɔ̃

"Dire que le projet était 'un peu difficile' était une sous-estimation."

🇩🇪German → English

Untertreibung

Transliteration: ʊntɐˈtʁaɪbʊŋ

"Zu sagen, dass der Sturm 'ein bisschen Schaden angerichtet hat', war eine grobe Untertreibung."

🇮🇹Italian → English

sottovalutazione

Transliteration: sottovalutatsjone

"Dire che il progetto era 'un po' difficile' era una sottovalutazione."

🇪🇸Spanish → English

subestimación

Transliteration: subestimación

"Decir que el huracán causó 'un poco de daño' fue una subestimación grosera."

🇵🇹Portuguese → English

subestimação

Transliteration: subestimação

"Dizer que o projeto era 'um pouco desafiador' foi uma subestimação."

🇮🇳Hindi → English

कम आंका जाना

Transliteration: kam aankaa jaana

"यह कहना कि तूफान ने 'थोड़ी क्षति' पहुंचाई, एक गंभीर कम आंका जाना था।"

🇨🇳Chinese → English

轻描淡写

Transliteration: qīng miáo dàn xiě

"说飓风造成了'一点损失'是一个严重的轻描淡写。"

🇰🇷Korean → English

과소평가

Transliteration: gwaseopyeongga

"허리케인이 '조금 피해를 입혔다'고 말하는 것은 심각한 과소평가였다."

🇯🇵Japanese → English

過小評価

Transliteration: kashōhyōka

"ハリケーンが「少しの被害をもたらした」と言うのは、ひどい過小評価だった。"

Thesaurus & Synonyms Graph

Explore Nuanced Synonyms for "Understatement"

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