understatement.

A description that makes something sound smaller, less serious, or less important than it is.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• deliberate understatement
• comic understatement

On the page

To call the storm inconvenient would be an understatement.

Usage notes

Primary category: analysis / argumentation / evidence. Forms: Countable or uncountable by context; countable singular understatement; plural understatements. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.