LITOTES

views updated Jun 27 2018

LITOTES [Stress: ‘lie-TOE-teez’]. In RHETORIC, a positive and often emphatic statement made by denying something negative, as when St Paul called himself ‘a citizen of no mean city’ (Acts 21:39). Common phrases involving litotes include in no small measure and by no means negligible. See MEIOSIS.

litotes

views updated Jun 27 2018

li·to·tes / ˈlītəˌtēz; ˈlit-; līˈtōtēz/ • n. Rhetoric ironical understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g., you won't be sorry, meaning you'll be glad).

litotes

views updated May 11 2018

litotes ironical understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g. I shan't be sorry for I shall be glad). Recorded from the late 16th century, the word comes via late Latin from Greek, ultimately from litos ‘plain, meagre’.

litotes

views updated May 21 2018

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.