litotes

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See also: Litotes and lítotes

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

Examples (figure of speech)
  • She's not the nicest person I know (she is mean)
  • He's not exactly a rocket scientist (he is stupid)
  • Organizing these records is no small task (it is time-consuming)
  • Not bad (good)

litotes (countable and uncountable, plural litotes)

  1. (rhetoric) A figure of speech whereby something is stated by denying its opposite, particularly the negation of a negative quality to say something positive.
    Synonym: meiosis
    Antonym: hyperbole
    Hypernyms: irony, understatement, meiosis
    • 1895, William Congreve, “Introduction”, in G. S. Street, editor, The Comedies of William Congreve‎, volume 1, Methuen and Co.:
      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.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Further reading

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

Noun

litotes f

  1. plural of litote

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs).

Pronunciation

Noun

lītotēs f (genitive lītotētos); third declension (Late Latin)

  1. (rhetoric) litotes (rhetorical understatement)

Declension

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant).

singular plural
nominative lītotēs lītotētes
genitive lītotētos lītotētum
dative lītotētī lītotētibus
accusative lītotēta lītotētas
ablative lītotēte lītotētibus
vocative lītotēs lītotētes

Descendants

  • → English: litotes (learned)
  • → French: litote (learned)
  • → German: Litotes (learned)
  • → Italian: litote (learned)
  • → Polish: litotes (learned)

References

  • litotes in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Souter, Alexander (1949) “lītotēs”, in A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D.‎, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published 1957, page 234

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

litotes m (definite singular litotesen, indefinite plural litoteser, definite plural litotesene)

  1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by litot

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

litotes m (definite singular litotesen, indefinite plural litotesar, definite plural litotesane)

  1. (pre-2005) alternative form of litot

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin lītotēs. Doublet of litota.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /liˈtɔ.tɛs/
  • Rhymes: -ɔtɛs
  • Syllabification: li‧to‧tes

Noun

litotes m inan (indeclinable)

  1. (rhetoric) litotes (figure of speech whereby something is stated by denying its opposite, particularly the negation of a negative quality to say something positive)
    Synonym: litota

Further reading

  • litotes in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin lītotēs, from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs).

Pronunciation

 

  • Hyphenation: li‧to‧tes

Noun

litotes f (invariable)

  1. (rhetoric) litotes (an understatement employed for rhetoric effect)

Spanish

Noun

litotes f pl

  1. plural of litote
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