1-Stop Dictionary Reference

Litotes

Acceptable For Game Play - US & UK word lists

This word is acceptable for play in the US & UK dictionaries that are being used in the following games:

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite, as in This is no small problem.

Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. A figure of speech in which the speaker emphasizes the magnitude of a statement by denying its opposite; a figure of speech in which understatement is used with negation to express a positive attribute; a form of irony

the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. A diminution or softening of statement for the sake of avoiding censure or increasing the effect by contrast with the moderation shown in the form of expression; a form of understatement.

The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. In rhetoric, a figure in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary. Thus, “a citizen of no mean city” means one “of an illustrious city.”

WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

n. understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary)

Word Usage

"At first called litotes or meiosis, such understatement came to be called irony, at least by the end of the sixteenth century."

Hypernym

Words that are more generic or abstract

rhetorical device understatement

Cross Reference

meiosis auxesis double negative paradiastole