Learned borrowing fromLate Latinlītotēs, fromAncient Greekλιτότης(litótēs, literally“plainness”), fromλιτός(litós,“simple”).
| Examples (figure of speech) |
|---|
- She's not the nicest person I know (She is mean).
- He's not exactly arocket scientist (He is stupid).
- Organizing these records is no small task (It is time-consuming).
- Thisisn't too bad (It is good).
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litotes (countable anduncountable,plurallitotes)
- (rhetoric) Afigure of speech wherebysomething isstated bydenying itsopposite.
- (especially) Thenegation of anegativequality toassert apositive.
- Synonyms:antenantiosis,meiosis,moderatour
- Antonym:hyperbole
- Hypernyms:irony,understatement,meiosis
1895, William Congreve, “Introduction”, inG. S. Street, editor,The Comedies of William Congreve[1], 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 oflitotes.
rhetoric: stating a point by denying its opposite
litotes f
- plural oflitote
Borrowed fromAncient Greekλιτότης(litótēs).
lītotēs f (genitivelītotētos);third declension(Late Latin)
- (rhetoric)litotes(rhetorical understatement)
Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant).
- “litotes”, inGaffiot, Félix (1934),Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Souter, Alexander (1949), “lītotēs”, inA Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D.[2], 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published1957, page234
litotes m (definite singularlitotesen,indefinite plurallitoteser,definite plurallitotesene)
- form removed with thespelling reform of 2005;superseded bylitot
litotes m (definite singularlitotesen,indefinite plurallitotesar,definite plurallitotesane)
- (pre-2005)alternative form oflitot
Learned borrowing fromLatinlītotēs.Doublet oflitota.
- IPA(key): /liˈtɔ.tɛs/
- Rhymes:-ɔtɛs
- Syllabification:li‧to‧tes
litotes m inan (indeclinable)
- (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
- litotes in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Learned borrowing fromLate Latinlītotēs, fromAncient Greekλιτότης(litótēs).
litotes f (invariable)
- (rhetoric)litotes(an understatement employed for rhetoric effect)
litotes f pl
- plural oflitote
litotes on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Litotes in theEncyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)