Can somebody help me figure out the definition of this literature term?

[Planr]

So I'm doing some English work and I am getting questions asked in my assignments that I can't seem to find the definition for on Google.
What is the literary definition for the term "Emotional Understatement"?

[Ad Bot]

[Rally]

What's the context?

[childofdarkness016]

Wouldn't that be like when a character shows less emotion (or no emotion) than what would be considered normal during a specific instance? Or maybe when the narrator does something similar? Just a deduction from the word itself. Like Rally said, context helps.

[Planr]

What's the context?

I was given a passage of an old piece of 1800's literature and it was asking me what kind of literary mechanic was being used.

[KickFlow]

Interjection? That's a word that shows strong emotion. (ie. "Ow!")

Or did I misunderstand what you're asking lol

[childofdarkness016]

Interjection? That's a word that shows strong emotion. (ie. "Ow!")

Or did I misunderstand what you're asking lol

He wants to know what an "Emotional Understatement" is.

[Jairo]

it means the emotion being expressed is less intense than expected

[childofdarkness016]

it means the emotion being expressed is less intense than expected

yeah that's what i would think

[Planr]

it means the emotion being expressed is less intense than expected

thank you :)

[dkamm65]

I found a pretty detailed reference to this here:

http://goo.gl/owcnPL

Seems more nuanced than what Jairo said.