litotes
li·to·tes
noun
1.
understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary)
- “saying”
- “when you mean”
- “is an example of litotes”
Origin
Learned borrowing from Late Latin lītotēs, from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs, literally “plainness”), from λιτός (litós, “simple”).
Phrases
- double negative
Related words
Broader terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.