understatement


 * understatement-** the ironic minimalizing of fact, understatements present things as less significant than they actually are. The effect can frequently be humorous and emphatic. Understatements are the opposite of hyperboles.

//Pronunciation:// "&n-d&r-'stAt/-m&nt/ [|link to listen]



__Examples:__

Jonathan Swift’s //A Tale of a Tub//: “Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her person for the worse.”

Robert Frost's//Mowing//: "Anything more than the truth would have seemed to weak"

Frost uses this exaggeration to emphasize the fact that the truth is the only means of worth. We would not know anything without it and anything but the truth is simply worthless information.

//Sources:// Frost, Robert. "The Poetics of Robert Frost - Examples." The Poetics of Robert Frost. 2001. AOL Time Warner Foundation. 25 Sept. 2007 .

Veloso, Bryan. "Unrequited Love." __WorldPress__. 8 May 2007. 25 Sept. 2007 .

"Merriam-Webster." Merriam-Webster. 2007. Merriam-Webster. 25 Sept. 2007 .

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