Word family noun statement understatement ≠ overstatement adjective understated ≠ overstated verb state understate ≠ overstate
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishoverstateo‧ver‧state /ˌəʊvəˈsteɪt $ ˌoʊvər-/ verb [transitive] EXAGGERATEto talk about something in a way that makes it seem more important, serious etc than it really is SYN exaggerate OPP understate To say that all motorists speed in residential areas is overstating the case. The importance of a child’s early years cannot be overstated (=is very important). —overstatement noun [countable, uncountable] It’s an overstatement to say that the man’s a fool.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
overstate• The need for occasional supervision at least when working with the dying can not be overstated.• The significance of this decline can not be overstated.• The company says that the dangers of driving while using cell phones have been overstated.• The importance to historians of encoding standards that will facilitate data exchange can not be overstated.• She backs up her description of the deteriorating work environment with solid research, though she sometimes overstates her case.• It would be difficult to overstate how important a figure this Baltimore newspaperman was in the world of wine.• For a man so understated personally, he is suprisingly overstated professionally.• And yet, I overstated the barber's deference and this made me misunderstand, crucially, Waugh's novel.• First, the agency may seek to expand a given government programme by systematically overstating the benefits or understating the costs.• Opponents say Nader is overstating the gravity of the problem.• Politicians typically overstate their case in order to get their point across.overstating the case• Crediting Gene Kelly with teaching the movies how to dance may be overstating the case.• However, Eddy's initial claims quickly turned out to be overstating the case. 