Litotes

//laɪˈtəʊ.tiːz// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A figure of speech whereby something is stated by denying its opposite. countable, rhetoric, uncountable

    "The delicacy which prompts a later generation to reject that name is by no means necessarily a result of stricter habits, is far more often due to the flatness which comes of untiring repetition and to the greater piquancy of litotes."

  2. 2
    understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary) wordnet
  3. 3
    A figure of speech whereby something is stated by denying its opposite.; The negation of a negative quality to assert a positive. countable, especially, rhetoric, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
meiosisantenantiosiscoloringdistortionexaggerationexpressionism

Example

More examples

"The delicacy which prompts a later generation to reject that name is by no means necessarily a result of stricter habits, is far more often due to the flatness which comes of untiring repetition and to the greater piquancy of litotes."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin lītotēs, from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs, literally “plainness”), from λιτός (litós, “simple”).

Related phrases

double negativefigure of speech

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.