Unexaggerated

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Describing something expressed or presented in a way that is entirely truthful and without any overstatement or embellishment
2. Characterizing a statement or depiction that remains strictly accurate and free from any magnification or excessive emphasis
3. Indicating an account or description that is straightforward and exact, avoiding any form of amplification or exaggeration

Etymology: The word is a plain English compound: the prefix "un-", meaning "not", attached to "exaggerated", the past participle of "exaggerate." That prefix has a long pedigree. It descends from a Proto-Indo-European root for negation, passed through Proto-Germanic and Old English, and it has been productive in English ever since, so new formations like this one are easy to build on existing words. "Exaggerated" itself comes from the Latin "exaggerare," meaning "to heap up" or "to make something larger," built from "ex-" and "aggerare," which relates to "agger," a mound or heap. The literal sense of piling something up gave way to the figurative sense of overstating a thing, which is the root of the modern meaning. Adding "un-" simply reverses that sense, describing an account that reports things at their true size.

Synonyms: understated, moderate, restrained, measured, tempered

Antonyms: exaggerated, overstated, inflated, embellished, amplified