---
title: "Understatement. Hyperbole. Oxymoron. Epithet."
description: "Understatement is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation see..."
author: "yuliyaZ92"
published: "2013-03-17T06:11:34+00:00"
modified: "2013-03-17T08:17:29+00:00"
locale: "ru"
canonical_url: "https://yvision.kz/post/understatement-hyperbole-oxymoron-epithet-342676"
markdown_url: "https://yvision.kz/post/understatement-hyperbole-oxymoron-epithet-342676/markdown"
site_name: "Yvision.kz"
---

# Understatement. Hyperbole. Oxymoron. Epithet.

> Understatement is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation see...

Understatement is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is. As such, understatement can be used to reflect modesty, sarcasm, derogatory or complimentary tone.

For example: "He is a little on the old side" - describing a very old person.

![Understatement. Hyperbole. Oxymoron. Epithet.](https://storage.yvision.kz/images/user/yuliyaz92/A37mS8Gx5b1erHFs98HV9yk31131Ic.jpg)

The opposite of understatement is hyperbole. A hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration. These statements are not literally true, but people make them to sound impressive or to emphasize something.

![Understatement. Hyperbole. Oxymoron. Epithet.](https://storage.yvision.kz/images/user/yuliyaz92/vgWoS5pyAKrNF91cW6k45rinmUinGD.jpg)

For example: I nearly died laughing. I tried a thousand times.

![Understatement. Hyperbole. Oxymoron. Epithet.](https://storage.yvision.kz/images/user/yuliyaz92/Xr07wW9cR4K2qcb7K0v2W11BKdmEgO.jpg)

Epithet* *(Greek - *"addition") *is a stylistic device emphasizing some quality of a person, thing, idea or phenomenon. Its function is to reveal the evaluating subjective attitude of the writer towards the thing described.

![Understatement. Hyperbole. Oxymoron. Epithet.](https://storage.yvision.kz/images/user/yuliyaz92/j3AetZB330nKwcV5h3LxMQvRAR42Ki.jpg)

For example: *It was opened by **a small barrel of a woman**, her fat arms shiny with suds.*

* He was **a bald, vast-bearded man** with **a distinctly saturnine cast** to his face; a Jeremiah.*

An **oxymoron** (plural **oxymora** or **oxymorons**) (from Greek "sharp dull") is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms. Oxymora appear in a variety of contexts, including inadvertent errors such as *ground pilot* and literary oxymorons crafted to reveal a paradox.

![Understatement. Hyperbole. Oxymoron. Epithet.](http://storage.yvision.kz/images/user/yuliyaz92/vImb4Kwn8aQEOaCBU2XJrzQ3QQ4h4K.png)

For example: Bitter sweet, dark light, mad wisdom etc.

*

![Understatement. Hyperbole. Oxymoron. Epithet.](https://storage.yvision.kz/images/user/yuliyaz92/CAgPfXsrTLu659dstXa3P3D1sS928W.jpg)

*

[http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/understateterm.htm](http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/understateterm.htm)

[https://sites.google.com/site/afigurativelanguagewebquest/task/day-8--hyperbole](https://sites.google.com/site/afigurativelanguagewebquest/task/day-8--hyperbole)

[http://estylistics.blogspot.com/2012/05/epithet-as-stylistic-device.html](http://estylistics.blogspot.com/2012/05/epithet-as-stylistic-device.html)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron)

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Source: [https://yvision.kz/post/understatement-hyperbole-oxymoron-epithet-342676](https://yvision.kz/post/understatement-hyperbole-oxymoron-epithet-342676)