"to say the least" meaning in English

See to say the least in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adverb

Audio: En-au-to say the least.ogg
Head templates: {{en-adv|-}} to say the least (not comparable)
  1. (idiomatic) Used to suggest an understatement. Tags: idiomatic, not-comparable Synonyms: and then some, and how Translations (suggesting understatement): op zijn minst gezegd (Dutch), lievästi sanottuna (Finnish), c’est le moins qu’on puisse dire (French), c’est le moins que l’on puisse dire (French), pour le moins (French), gelinde gesagt (German), και λίγα λες (kai líga les) (Greek), finoman szólva (Hungarian), enyhén szólva (Hungarian), a dir poco (Italian), co najmniej (Polish), мя́гко говоря́ (mjáxko govorjá) (Russian), blago rečeno (alt: благо речено) (Serbo-Croatian), cuando menos (Spanish), milt sagt (Swedish), м'я́ко ка́жучи (mʺjáko kážučy) (Ukrainian)
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          "type": "example"
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          "text": "His performance, to say the least, didn't impress me.",
          "type": "example"
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          "ref": "2024 March 6, Paul Clifton, “Network News: NR launches Reading-Paddington recovery operation”, in RAIL, number 1004, page 7:",
          "text": "\"We are very proud of the successful launch of the Elizabeth line. It was very reliable at the start, but the last six months have been challenging, to say the least.",
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        "Used to suggest an understatement."
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        "(idiomatic) Used to suggest an understatement."
      ],
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          "word": "and then some"
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          "word": "and how"
        }
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      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "op zijn minst gezegd"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "lievästi sanottuna"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "c’est le moins qu’on puisse dire"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "c’est le moins que l’on puisse dire"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "pour le moins"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "gelinde gesagt"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "kai líga les",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "και λίγα λες"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "finoman szólva"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "enyhén szólva"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "a dir poco"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "co najmniej"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "mjáxko govorjá",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "мя́гко говоря́"
        },
        {
          "alt": "благо речено",
          "code": "sh",
          "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "blago rečeno"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "cuando menos"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "milt sagt"
        },
        {
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "mʺjáko kážučy",
          "sense": "suggesting understatement",
          "word": "м'я́ко ка́жучи"
        }
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  "word": "to say the least"
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        "(idiomatic) Used to suggest an understatement."
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          "word": "and then some"
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          "word": "and how"
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    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "op zijn minst gezegd"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "lievästi sanottuna"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "c’est le moins qu’on puisse dire"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "c’est le moins que l’on puisse dire"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "pour le moins"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "gelinde gesagt"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "kai líga les",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "και λίγα λες"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "finoman szólva"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "enyhén szólva"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "a dir poco"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "co najmniej"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "mjáxko govorjá",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "мя́гко говоря́"
    },
    {
      "alt": "благо речено",
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "blago rečeno"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "cuando menos"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "milt sagt"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "mʺjáko kážučy",
      "sense": "suggesting understatement",
      "word": "м'я́ко ка́жучи"
    }
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  "word": "to say the least"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.