litotes
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Learned borrowing from Late Latin lītotēs, from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs, literally “plainness”), from λιτός (litós, “simple”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /laɪˈtəʊ.tiːz/, enPR: lītō'tēz
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: li‧to‧tes
Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file)
Noun
[edit]Examples (figure of speech) |
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litotes (countable and uncountable, plural litotes)
- (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[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 of litotes.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
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See also
[edit]Further reading
[edit]litotes on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Litotes in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
Anagrams
[edit]French
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]litotes f
Latin
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈliː.to.teːs/, [ˈlʲiːt̪ɔt̪eːs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈli.to.tes/, [ˈliːt̪ot̪es]
Noun
[edit]lītotēs f (genitive lītotētos); third declension (Late Latin)
Declension
[edit]Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant).
Case | Singular | Plural |
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Nominative | lītotēs | lītotētes |
Genitive | lītotētos | lītotētum |
Dative | lītotētī | lītotētibus |
Accusative | lītotēta | lītotētas |
Ablative | lītotēte | lītotētibus |
Vocative | lītotēs | lītotētes |
Descendants
[edit]- → English: litotes (learned)
- → French: litote (learned)
- → German: Litotes (learned)
- → Italian: litote (learned)
- → Polish: litotes (learned)
References
[edit]- litotes in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Souter, Alexander (1949) “lītotēs”, in A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D.[2], 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published 1957, page 234
Norwegian Bokmål
[edit]Noun
[edit]litotes m (definite singular litotesen, indefinite plural litoteser, definite plural litotesene)
- form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by litot
Norwegian Nynorsk
[edit]Noun
[edit]litotes m (definite singular litotesen, indefinite plural litotesar, definite plural litotesane)
Polish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Learned borrowing from Latin lītotēs. Doublet of litota.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]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
Further reading
[edit]- litotes in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Portuguese
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Learned borrowing from Late Latin lītotēs, from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs).
Pronunciation
[edit]
- Hyphenation: li‧to‧tes
Noun
[edit]litotes f (invariable)
Spanish
[edit]Noun
[edit]litotes f pl
- English terms borrowed from Late Latin
- English learned borrowings from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English indeclinable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- en:Rhetoric
- English terms with quotations
- en:Figures of speech
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French non-lemma forms
- French noun forms
- Latin terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
- Latin terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Latin 3-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin nouns
- Latin third declension nouns
- Latin feminine nouns in the third declension
- Latin feminine nouns
- Late Latin
- la:Rhetoric
- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål masculine nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål pre-2005 forms
- Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas
- Norwegian Nynorsk nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk masculine nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk pre-2005 forms
- Polish terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Polish terms borrowed from Latin
- Polish learned borrowings from Latin
- Polish terms derived from Latin
- Polish doublets
- Polish 3-syllable words
- Polish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Polish/ɔtɛs
- Rhymes:Polish/ɔtɛs/3 syllables
- Polish lemmas
- Polish nouns
- Polish indeclinable nouns
- Polish masculine nouns
- Polish inanimate nouns
- pl:Rhetoric
- pl:Figures of speech
- Portuguese terms borrowed from Late Latin
- Portuguese learned borrowings from Late Latin
- Portuguese terms derived from Late Latin
- Portuguese terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Portuguese 3-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese indeclinable nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese feminine nouns
- pt:Rhetoric
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish noun forms