Verb.
Etymology: it is analysed
into UNDER + RATE.
It is dated from
the beginning of 1600.
Transitive: 1.
To
assess or tax (a person, a thing, etc.) at a rate inferior to the usual one.
2. To rate or estimate at too little worth;
to value insufficiently; to rate at a value inferior to what is expected or
real.
Synonyms: to
undervalue, depreciate, belittle, under-estimate.
Antonyms: to
overrate, over-estimate.
Translation: sous-estimer, in French; subestimar, in Spanish; sottovalutare, in
Italian.
Notwithstanding all the care that had been taken for an equitable
adjustment, Gasca was aware that it was impossible to satisfy the demands of a
jealous and irritable soldiery, where each man would be likely to exaggerate
his own deserts, while he
underrated those of his comrades.
William Prescott… Conquest of Peru 1847
"Oh! thanks for that, my father. Do not underrate my strength for endurance.
William Simms… Katharine Walton 1851
In the Roman empire all sorts of property, whether consisting of land or
movables, were estimated with the greatest care, and subjected to taxation.
Individuals were obliged to make oath to the accuracy of their returns; and
those who were detected in making false returns, or in attempting to evade the
tax by concealing or underrating their property,
were punished capitally and had their estates confiscated.
John McCulloch… A Treatise on the principles… 1863
With all the praise that is lavished upon this biography, the author
himself is rather an underrated man.
William Minto... English Prose Literature 1872
'A wretched afternoon,' said his lordship, shivering, and drawing his
chair closer to the fire. Steadman had taken away his fur-lined cloak. 'I had
really underrated the disagreeableness
of the English climate. It is abominable!'
Elizabeth Braddon… Phantom Fortune 1883
She felt as if she had underrated something great.
Ethel Dell… The Lamp in the Desert 1919
-) Reflexively:
Your modesty, sir, makes you underrate
yourself.
Baynard Hall… Frank Freeman's Barber Shop 1852
A marriage with me would have ensured him sorrow rather than joy.” “ How
can that be, Julie ?” asked I. “You underrate
yourself. I think the man who wins you, will indeed secure a treasure.”
Graham's Illustrated Magazine 1857
3. To rate the amount or extent of
(something) with inexactness, as if it were inferior.
-) Cf. the verbs to misreckon, miscount,
miscalculate.
Synonyms: to under-estimate, under-reckon.
Antonyms: to
overcount, overestimate, over-reckon.
Lorenzo then took possession of
the ships, which were laden with horses and other goods; and as the Moors
endeavoured to overreach him with regard to ransoming their vessels, greatly underrating their cargoes, he ordered
them all to be burnt.
Robert Kerr… Voyages and Travels 1824
Perhaps it may be thought that in this estimate we have underrated the home consumption of
cottons; but we are not sure that we have not inclined to the opposite side.
John Ramsay MacCulloch 1844
[…] a town, the population of which, at the close of 1841, was supposed
to be underrated at 9000 persons.
Charles Griffith… Port Phillip 1845
… he had materially underrated the distance
between the crater and the peak, which must be nearer sixty than fifty miles.
James Cooper… Mark's Reef 1852
Words derived from
UNDERRATE: underrating,
underratement.
