Search results
Definition, Usage and a list of Understatement Examples in common speech and literature. An understatement is a figure of speech employed by writers or speakers to intentionally make a situation seem less important than it really is.
Some of the best understatements used in literature are as follows. Example #1. Hamlet by William Shakespeare. “O most wicked speed, to post. With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not nor it cannot come to good, But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.”
A concise definition of Understatement along with usage tips, a deeper explanation, and lots of examples.
Examples of Hyperbole in Literature. Hyperbole is effective as a literary device in many ways. By exaggerating something in an extreme way, whether it is a character’s traits, writer’s tone, theme, or idea, hyperbole can capture a reader’s attention.
The opposite of hyperbole is litotes, deliberate understatement. In a rhetorical context—meaning, in the context of persuasive speaking and writing—hyperbole is sometimes called auxesis while litotes goes by the name meiosis. Different examples of hyperbole can be structured quite differently as sentences.
Hyperbole means to exaggerate. Understatement means to minimize something well-beyond literal reality. I hope that these examples of understatement will help you to better understand this tricky figurative language technique.
27 lis 2023 · Hailey Spinks. Updated on November 27, 2023 Literary Devices. An understatement is a figure of speech in which the writer intentionally downplays or minimizes the significance or intensity of a situation, often to be rhetorical or satirical or to (counterintuitively) create emphasis.
