LITOTES

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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.

Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language TOM McARTHUR

litotes

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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).

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

litotes

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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’.

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ELIZABETH KNOWLES

litotes

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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.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD

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