/'ʌndəsteɪtmənt; `ʌndɚ,stetmənt/
n
(a) [U] (action or practice of) understating 有节制的陈述或表达; 少说; 少报
*a clever use of understatement, eg for effect 巧妙地轻描淡写（如为获得某种效果）.
(b) [C] statement that expresses an idea, etc too weakly 重事轻说; 轻描淡写
*To say that he was displeased is an understatement, ie He was furious. 说他不高兴是重事轻说（他已怒不可遏）.

n
[C]
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 !'
[U]
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.