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litotes

Meaning of "litotes" in the English dictionary

DICTIONARY

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD LITOTES

From Greek, from litos small.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.

PRONUNCIATION OF LITOTES

ˈlaɪtəʊˌtiːz


GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF LITOTES

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Litotes is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES LITOTES MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Litotes

In rhetoric, litotes is a figure of speech in which understatement is employed for rhetoric effect, principally via double negatives. For example, rather than saying that something is attractive, one might merely say it is "not unattractive". Litotes is a form of understatement, always deliberate and with the intention of emphasis. However, the interpretation of negation may depend on context, including cultural context. In speech, it may also depend on intonation and emphasis; for example, the phrase "not bad" can be said in such a way as to mean anything from "mediocre" to "excellent". It can be used to soften harsher expressions, similar to euphemism. The use of litotes is common in English, Russian, German, Dutch, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and French. They are features of Old English poetry and of the Icelandic sagas and are a means of much stoical restraint. The word litotes is derived from the Greek word litos meaning "plain, small or meager". George Orwell complained about overuse of the 'not un...' construction in his essay "Politics and the English Language".

Definition of litotes in the English dictionary

The definition of litotes in the dictionary is understatement for rhetorical effect, esp when achieved by using negation with a term in place of using an antonym of that term, as in "She was not a little upset" for "She was extremely upset.".

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH LITOTES

Callicrates · equites · expertise · Hippocrates · Isocrates · isoetes · limites · Maltese · parietes · Pilates · Polycrates · prick-tease · rheumateese · Socrates · stipites · striptease · tease · Tees · velites · Xenocrates

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE LITOTES

litigate · litigation · litigation friend · litigator · litigious · litigiously · litigiousness · litmus · litmus paper · litmus test · litotic · litre · LittB · LittD · litten · litter · litter basket · litter bin · litter box · litter lout

WORDS THAT END LIKE LITOTES

case notes · compare notes · lecture notes · liner notes · notes · programme notes · Saint Simon Zelotes · scare quotes · shorthand notes · Simon Zelotes · sleeve notes · totes

Synonyms and antonyms of litotes in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «litotes» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR

TRANSLATION OF LITOTES

Find out the translation of litotes to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of litotes from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «litotes» in English.
zh

Translator English - Chinese

litotes的
1,325 millions of speakers
es

Translator English - Spanish

litotes
570 millions of speakers
en

English

litotes
510 millions of speakers
hi

Translator English - Hindi

litotes
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

litotes
280 millions of speakers
ru

Translator English - Russian

литота
278 millions of speakers
pt

Translator English - Portuguese

litotes
270 millions of speakers
bn

Translator English - Bengali

একজাতীয় অর্থালংকার যাতে নঞর্থক শব্দের সাহায্যে তার বিপরীত সদর্থক ভাবটিকেই জোরালোভাবে প্রকাশ করা হয়
260 millions of speakers
fr

Translator English - French

litote
220 millions of speakers
ms

Translator English - Malay

Litotes
190 millions of speakers
de

Translator English - German

litotes
180 millions of speakers
ja

Translator English - Japanese

litotes
130 millions of speakers
ko

Translator English - Korean

완서
85 millions of speakers
jv

Translator English - Javanese

Litotes
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

litotes
80 millions of speakers
ta

Translator English - Tamil

குறைத்துக் கூறும் ஓர் உருவணி
75 millions of speakers
mr

Translator English - Marathi

लिटोटा
75 millions of speakers
tr

Translator English - Turkish

litotes
70 millions of speakers
it

Translator English - Italian

litote
65 millions of speakers
pl

Translator English - Polish

litotes
50 millions of speakers
uk

Translator English - Ukrainian

литота
40 millions of speakers
ro

Translator English - Romanian

litotes
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

λιτότητα
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

litotes
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

litotes
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

litotes
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of litotes

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «LITOTES»

Principal search tendencies and common uses of litotes
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «litotes».

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about litotes

EXAMPLES

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «LITOTES»

Discover the use of litotes in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to litotes and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Festschrift to honor F. Wilbur Gingrich: lexicographer, ...
LITOTES IN ACTS Henry J. Cadbury The Oxford English Dictionary defines ' litotes' as "a figure of speech in which an affirmation is expressed by the negative of the contrary." It continues by giving as examples, not of the word but of the ...
Eugene Howard Barth, Ronald Edwin Cocroft, 1972
2
Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student ...
Device #3 Litotes: What you'll learn in this section isn't bad. Litotes, similar to understatement, emphasizes its point by using a word opposite to the condition. For example, rather than say, “The trip across the mountain was a hard journey,” we ...
‎2011
3
Romanticism and the Rise of English
metaphors) because they seemed dispensable, flourishes that stood in the way of communication. even when they acknowledged the virtues of figurative language, they included strict rules for using it correctly.15 cowper uses litotes in The ...
Andrew Elfenbein, 2008
4
Chaim Perelman
It did occur to me that in 1856, when I was exerting every nerve and every energy for James Buchanan, then standing on that identical platform I was on that I was a pretty good Democrat. (Lincoln-Douglas 335) Litotes is understatement that ...
Alan G. Gross, Ray D. Dearin, 2003
5
Adjective Intensification: Learners Versus Native Speakers : ...
9.4. Towards. Quantifying. the. Notion. of. Overstatement. 9.4.1. Hyperbole,. Litotes. and. Intensification. Intensification has in previous chapters been associated with the Gricean maxims of Quantity and Relevance. It is a formal device for ...
Gunter R. Lorenz, 1999
6
Milton, Rights and Liberties
Space prevents me doing more here24 than to offer two distinctive features of the epistle which match those of ^/-Milton in the Defences; one is the peculiar penchant for litotes, and the other is that for the word duntaxat. Litotes makes a double ...
Christophe Tournu, Neil Forsyth, 2007
7
Metaphor and Thought
Litotes are a particular kind of understatement in which the speaker uses a negative expression where a positive one would have been more forceful and direct. Litotes express an overt lack of commitment and so imply a desire to suppress or ...
Andrew Ortony, 1993
8
Blessed Excess: Religion and the Hyperbolic Imagination
..Hyperbole deflated by litotes: He was not even moving. Note that the litotes counters the hyperbole without completely denying it, because the litotes also does not mean what it says. In fact, the litotes, in this example, is very close to irony, ...
Stephen H. Webb, 1993
9
A Dictionary of Literary Devices: Gradus, A-Z
Counter-Litotes Rl: The three spaced, or unspaced, periods at the beginning of a text are the graphic mark of the counter-interruption. Ex: '... after my fifth glass of kirsch, warmer blood began to circulate in my brain' (A. Gide, Les Nourritures ...
Bernard Marie Dupriez, Albert W. Halsall, 1991
10
Performing Prose: The Study and Practice of Style in Composition
Hyperbole's complement is litotes, or deliberate understatement. Like hyperbole, litotes creates a disjunction between a statement and the thing, person, or event to which it refers (that is, a disjunction between form and content). But in this ...
Chris Holcomb, M. Jimmie Killingsworth, 2010

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «LITOTES»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term litotes is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Negated Intensifiers: Not Super Duper Complicated
These negated intensifiers bear a strong resemblance to litotes. Litotes is a form of understatement that involves an inherently negative ... «Crikey, Jul 15»
2
How Not to Represent the People
It will of course be litotes to refer to the ugly incident as a show of shame. It's more than that. I call it madness. Yes, legislative madness will be ... «AllAfrica.com, Jul 15»
3
'Being Nixon' and 'One Man Against the World'
At other times, his evenhandedness yields misleading understatement and ludicrous litotes. “Nixon was not completely free of prejudice,” he ... «New York Times, Jun 15»
4
Simile When You Say That, Partner
Beyond that, we're mainly talking about the skilled use of figures of speech, such as litotes (understatement), hyperbole (exaggeration), ... «Chronicle of Higher Education, Jun 15»
5
Football People On TV: Gary Lineker
The Match of the Day gig is about mass communication, so it's not the place for extended metaphor, litotes or even words of more than two ... «Football365.com, Jun 15»
6
Beaches Closed in June?
Tracy litotes is an environmental analyst for the state…ever wonder how they test water? “We've got the samples from Wharton brook…we ... «Wxedge.com, Jun 15»
7
Anticipatory Buyer's Remorse
Perhaps that's just a really subtle use of litotes, but we doubt it. The Washington Examiner notes an 11th dodge. Asked by another reporter if ... «Wall Street Journal, Apr 15»
8
Politics and the Australian language
It was undermined with biting aplomb in Julia Gillard's now legendary misogyny speech – no caveats, backtracks or litotes there, but a woman ... «The Guardian, Apr 15»
9
In many words
... Epimone, Epistrophe, Homiologia, Hyperbole, Hendiadys, Irony, Insultatio, Isocolon, Litotes, Metonymy, Metaphor, Malapropism, Neologism, ... «The Hindu, Apr 15»
10
Litotes: the most common rhetorical device you've never heard of
David Cameron may not want to debate head-to-head with Ed Miliband, but both men are happy to deploy litotes: one of the stealth bombers of ... «The Guardian, Mar 15»
REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Litotes [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/litotes>. May 2024 ».
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