Dictionary

undersay en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ʌndə(ɹ)ˈseɪ/

Etymology

From under- + say.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) To say by way of derogation or contradiction.
   • They say, they con to heaven the highway; But by my soul I dare undersay, They never set foot on that same troad, But balke their right way, and strayen abroad. 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “September. Ægloga Nona.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC:
2. To understate.
   • My words undersay it, of course; I mean something rarer than critical, something better than ethical, and perhaps I had better retreat upon such a word as spiritual. 1899, W.D. Howells, “The New Poetry”, in The North American Review, volume 168, page 586:
   • Try not to overqualify or undersay what you have to say. 1981, Patricia A. Moody, Writing Today: A Rhetoric and Handbook, page 120:
   • How to undersay things when so many oversay them is one thing learnt. 1913, Laurence Jerrold, The French and the English, page 60:

Forms