underestimateverb
uk/ˌʌn.dəˈres.tɪ.meɪt/us/ˌʌn.dɚˈes.tə.meɪt/underestimate verb (AMOUNT)
B2 [ I or T ] to fail to guess or understand the real cost, size, difficulty, etc. of something:
Originally the contractor gave me a price of €2,000, but now they say they underestimated and it's going to be at least €3,000.
Don't underestimate the difficulties of getting both parties to the conference table.
Opposite
overestimate
More examples
- He miscalculated badly when he underestimated the response of the international community to the invasion.
- They've seriously underestimated the cost of the building project.
- The influence of the media should never be underestimated.
- She had a tendency to underestimate her son's potential.
- It seems that we've seriously underestimated just how long this process will take.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Misunderstanding
- cross purposes
- don't get me wrong idiom
- forest
- get the wrong end of the stick idiom
- get your wires crossed idiom
- labour
- labour under the delusion, illusion, misapprehension, etc. idiom
- misconceived
- misconception
- misconstrue
- misguided
- misinterpret
- mistaken
- misunderstand
- not see the forest for the trees idiom
- not see the wood for the trees idiom
- put two and two together and make five idiom
- wire
- wood
- wrong
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underestimate verb (PERSON)
C1 [ T ] to fail to understand how strong, skilful, intelligent, or determined someone, especially a competitor, is:
Never underestimate your opponent!
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Estimating value
- appraise
- appraiser
- cost
- costing
- est
- figure
- get/have your money's worth idiom
- goodwill
- index
- index of leading economic indicators
- index-linked
- indexation
- money
- price
- put a figure on it idiom
- quote
- RRP
- valuation
- valuer
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Misunderstanding
underestimate
noun [ C ] uk/ˌʌn.dəˈres.tɪ.mət/us/ˌʌn.dɚˈes.tə.mət/
Obviously, $100 was a serious underestimate.