litotes

See also: Litotes and lítotes

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French litote, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs), from λιτός (litós, “simple”). Template:examples-right

Pronunciation

• enPR: lītō'tēz, IPA^(key): /laɪˈtəʊ.tiːz/
• Hyphenation: li-to-tes

• Audio (RP):

  (file)

Noun

litotes (plural litotes)

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

Antonyms

• See hyperbole

Hypernyms

• irony
• understatement, meiosis

Translations

rhetoric: stating a point by denying its opposite

• Catalan: lítote f
• Esperanto: litoto, maltroigo
• Finnish: litoteesi
• French: litote (fr) f
• German: Litotes (de) f
• Greek: λιτότητα (el) (litótita)

  Ancient: λιτότης f (litótēs)

• Ido: litoto (io)
• Irish: liotóid f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: litote (it) f
• Manx: fo-raa m
• Portuguese: litotes (pt) f
• Russian: лито́та (ru) f (litóta)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: литота f

  Latin: litota (sh) f

• Spanish: litote (es) f, lítotes (es) f
• Tagalog: makumbaba

See also

• paradiastole
• double negative

Anagrams

• Sottile, oil test, toilest, toilets

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li.tɔt/

Noun

litotes f

1. plural of litote

---

Portuguese

Noun

litotes f (invariable)

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