underestimate

verb

1 official statistics tend to underestimate the actual volume of economic activity that occurs:

set too low, underrate;

miscalculate, misjudge, judge incorrectly, estimate wrongly, calculate wrongly, be wrong about, misconstrue, misread;

err, be wide of the mark.

▷antonyms overestimate, exaggerate.

2 his political opponents managed to underestimate his capabilities:

underrate, rate too low, undervalue, set little/no store by, not do justice to, do an injustice to, be wrong about, sell short, play down, understate;

minimize, de-emphasize, underemphasize, diminish, downgrade, deflate, reduce, lessen, brush aside, gloss over, trivialize;

hold cheap, shrug off, belittle;

rare misprize, minify.

▷antonyms overestimate, overrate, exaggerate.