A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker says less than what he or she means; the opposite of hyperbole.
- We teachers are rather good at magic, you know."- 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'.
- "I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain." - 'Catcher in the Rye'.
- "There will be ... displeasure." - The consequences that the Soviet general says they face if they don't humiliate British intelligence in 'From Russia with Love'.