Meaning of 'it would be hard to overstate' [closed]

Please include the research you’ve done, or consider if your question suits our English Language Learners site better. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic.

Closed 4 years ago .

What does "it would be hard to overstate" refer to in the following sentence? What is the meaning of that phrase? Plato also, of course, portrays Socrates as a dauntless man of principle who died a hero’s death akin to that of Achilles (Apology of Socrates 28c2–d5)—a portrait whose effect on the reputation of philosophy over the millennia "it would be hard to overstate."

8,779 2 2 gold badges 23 23 silver badges 63 63 bronze badges asked Jun 20, 2020 at 14:00 9 4 4 bronze badges Which word do you not understand? Commented Jun 20, 2020 at 17:11

3 Answers 3

Paraphrase

Plato's (literary) portrait of Socrates had an effect on the reputation of philosophy that would be hard to overstate.

To overstate something is to exaggerate its importance. However some things are so important that it is difficult to praise their influence too much.

Example

The fact that I can speak Spanish is stupendous, amazing, exceptional! That would be an overstatement. Many non-Spanish people can speak Spanish.

The effect of theories of Einstein on science, were stupendous, amazing, exceptional! This is not an overstatement because it is true.

Thus it is easy to overstate the ability to speak Spanish but hard to overstate the achievements of Einstein.

answered Jun 20, 2020 at 14:13 chasly - supports Monica chasly - supports Monica 37.4k 1 1 gold badge 61 61 silver badges 112 112 bronze badges

difficult to accomplish or resolve

That is, if you tried to credit the portrait with more influence than it had, you would find it difficult, because the largest claim you made would be real and thus not overstated.

answered Jun 20, 2020 at 14:06 4,104 1 1 gold badge 14 14 silver badges 29 29 bronze badges

What probably makes this phrase troubling to the OP is that it is an idiom, i.e. that its meaning does not straightforwardly, unambiguously follow from the meanings of the words that constitute it; consulting separate dictionary entries for these words thus may not be enough to make the meaning of the phrase clear to a learner of the language.

When we say that it is hard to so something, we typically mean that it takes a great deal of skill or effort to do it, but it is usually implied that, if one possesses the relevant skills and puts sufficient effort into it, one can do it. Somebody who hears the phrase 'it is hard to overstate X' for the first time may thus think that what is being conveyed by it is that it takes a great deal of skill and effort to overstate X, but that somebody with expertise in rhetoric could do it, if he puts some work into it. That would, of course, be to miss the point of the phrase: when it is used, the focus is not on the skills and effort that it would take to overstate X, but on the nature of X. The point of using the phrase is that X is so extraordinary that, even if one uses the strongest possible language to characterise it, one would not be overstating it, one would only be doing it justice. When one hears the phrase 'it is impossible to overstate X' one should thus understand it as 'it it impossible to overstate X [because X is such that nothing one could say about it would amount to an overstatement]'.