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litotes
litotes
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
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1996
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© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information)
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litotes (rhet.) affirmative expressed by the negative of the contrary, as ‘a citizen of
no mean city’. XVII. — late L. — Gr.
lītótēs, f.
lītós single, simple, meagre.
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Words: Meiosis mi-o'sis, n 1. a type of cell division; 2. = litotes
Newspaper article from: The Independent - London; 6/24/2001; ; 462 words
; ...for ironic understatement. Or do I mean litotes? Better look it up. What's this...t be right. Ah, here we are: "2 = LITOTES." So says my Oxford Concise. Let...of English... "2. Another term for litotes." I reached for Chambers to look up...
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CONTIGUITY ERROR
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 6/8/2003; ; 700+ words
; ...of the ancient rhetorical device called litotes (LIE-tuh-teez), a form of understatement...for something very, very nice, is litotes, for example. Not for nothing , it...be more opaque than some of its fellow litotes. For one thing, it generally appears...
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The angle of making parallels
Newspaper article from: Chicago Sun-Times; 9/13/1987; ; 700+ words
; ...am minded to put in a cool word about litotes. (The noun is plural; it is pronounced...this is certainly not unblemished." Litotes are boiled vegetables. There is something...about them. The writer who regularly uses litotes is likely to call a spade an implement...
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Yeah, yeah
Newspaper article from: Jerusalem Post; 5/23/2008; ; 700+ words
; ...literary device of negating a negative: litotes. For example, "he's not unintelligent...he's very intelligent." That's litotes. It works the same in Hebrew, even though...exactly illegal," is a nice lawyer's litotes. Perhaps oddest of all is when negation...
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Samuel Johnson and the Art of Sinking: 1709-1791.(Book review)
Magazine article from: The Modern Language Review; 4/1/2007; ; 700+ words
; ...involves. Rhetorical devices are also significant, not least litotes and the moral implications of its stylistic deployment. In...there, along with the judgements he felt obliged to make, litotes 'comes in Johnson to stand for the double vision of his entire...
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Danglers: Misplaced Clauses That Trip Up Sentences
Newspaper article from: Chicago Sun-Times; 9/17/1995; ; 700+ words
; ...negatives would have sufficed. Double negatives have something in common with the useful device known as litotes. Editorial writers use litotes to damn with faint praise or to praise with faint damns: She is not a bad singer. She was not wearing...
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Figures of image: Aristotle and the design of icons and hypermedia. (Visual Literacy)
Magazine article from: Technical Communication; 8/1/1993; ; 700+ words
; ...or concept is too complex or indistinct to represent clearly. Instead, substitute a small, recognizable part. Litotes Litotes (lie-tuh-teez) uses a double negative to suggest a concept by the negation of its opposite. When someone asks...
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - THE VIRGINAIN PILOT.(LOCAL)(Letter to the Editor)
Newspaper article from: The Virginian Pilot; 6/27/2003; 700+ words
; ...negatives.'' Actually, each of the examples he cited is a ``litotes,'' a figure of speech or literary device in which an assertion...consequence'' means ``it was a big deal.'' The word ``litotes'' appears in the dictionary - coincidentally, and appropriately...
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Teacher's lessons made the grade
Newspaper article from: Chicago Sun-Times; 8/4/1986; ; 700+ words
; ...listed new words. Among my first entries were "hyperbole" and "litotes," the latter of which is important only because never before now have I found a way to use the word "litotes" in print. Father O'Donnell made us write something every...
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Not to Be Misunderstood
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 6/13/2003; 265 words
; ...negatives." Actually, each of the examples he cited is a "litotes," a figure of speech or literary device in which an assertion...small consequence" means "it was a big deal." The word "litotes" appears in the dictionary -- coincidentally and appropriately...
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litotes
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
litotes , figure of speech in which a statement is made by indicating the negative of its opposite, e.g., "not many" meaning "a few." A form of irony , litotes is meant to emphasize by understating. Its opposite is hyperbole .
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LITOTES
Book article from: Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language
LITOTES [Stress: ‘lie-TOE-teez’]. In RHETORIC , a...of no mean city’ (Acts 21:39). Common phrases involving litotes include in no small measure and by no means negligible . See MEIOSIS .
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meiosis
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English
...half the chromosome number of the parent cell, as in the production of gametes.Compare with mitosis . 2. another term for litotes . DERIVATIVES: mei·ot·ic / mīˈätik / adj. mei·ot·i...
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DOUBLE NEGATIVE
Book article from: Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language
...unintelligent : She is intelligent; You can't not respect their decision : You have to respect their decision; Nobody has NO friends : Everybody has some friends), the construction is part of standard English. Compare LITOTES . See NEGATION .
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MEIOSIS
Book article from: Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language
...that dismisses or belittles, especially by using terms that make something seem less significant than it really is or ought to be: for example, calling a serious wound a scratch , or a journalist a hack or a scribbler . Compare LITOTES .
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