understate
verbVerb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they understate | |
| he / she / it understates | |
| past simple understated | |
| past participle understated | |
| -ing form understating |
- understate something
to state that something is smaller, less important or less serious than it really is 轻描淡写；避重就轻地说 It would be a mistake to understate the seriousness of the problem. 淡化问题的严重性是错误的。 The figures probably understate the real unemployment rate. 这些数字很可能低估了真实的失业率。 To say that the reviews were mixed is to understate the case—the cons far outweighed the pros. 说评论好坏参半是轻描淡写——弊远大于利。
Oxford Collocations DictionaryUnderstate is used with these nouns as the object:- case
- extent