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# underestimate

«underestimate» in Mova's school dictionary: **to guess that an amount, size or time is smaller than it…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (underestimate, underestimates, underestimated, underestimating); noun (an underestimate, underestimates)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To underestimate means to guess that an amount, size or time is smaller than it really is: «I underestimated how long the walk would take.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/underestimate/#m1)

2) To underestimate a person means to think they are less clever, strong or able than they really are. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/underestimate/#m2)

3) An underestimate (noun) is a guess that is too low. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/underestimate/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In maths lessons on estimating and rounding, an underestimate is an estimate lower than the true answer; rounding down often gives one. In stories and sport, a strong team underestimates a small team and loses — a classic lesson. Phrases: «never underestimate», «underestimate someone», «a slight underestimate», «underestimate the danger».

### examples

- I underestimated how many sweets were in the jar: I said 50 and there were 72. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/underestimate/#x1)
- Never underestimate a small dog! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/underestimate/#x2)
- The champions underestimated our team and lost 2–1. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/underestimate/#x3)
- Rounding 48 and 37 down to 40 and 30 gives an underestimate of their sum. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/underestimate/#x4)
- People often underestimate how cold the sea is in spring. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/underestimate/#x5)
- Don't underestimate the danger of swimming in a river. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/underestimate/#x6)
- 200 is an underestimate; the real number is 230. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/underestimate/#x7)

### note

Verb stress: un-der-ES-ti-mate (last syllable «-mate»); noun: un-der-ES-ti-mut. Opposite: overestimate. Maths: an underestimate is less than the exact answer; rounding every number down gives an underestimate of a sum. Not the same as «underrate», which is only about people's or things' quality, though they overlap.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «underestimate» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/U/underestimate/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.