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Litotes
//laɪˈtəʊ.tiːz// noun
Definitions
Noun
- 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 understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary) wordnet
- 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
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Late Latin lītotēs, from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs, literally “plainness”), from λιτός (litós, “simple”).
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