litotes

Learned borrowing from Late Latin lītotēs, from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs, literally “plainness”), from λιτός (litós, “simple”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /laɪˈtəʊ.tiːz/, enPR: lītō'tēz

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: li‧to‧tes

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

litotes (countable and uncountable, plural litotes)

1. (rhetoric) A figure of speech whereby something is stated by denying its opposite.
   1. (especially) The negation of a negative quality to assert a positive.

   Synonyms: antenantiosis, meiosis, moderatour

   Antonym: hyperbole

   Hypernyms: irony, understatement, meiosis

   • 1895, William Congreve, “Introduction”, in G. S. Street, editor, The Comedies of William Congreve‎^[1], volume 1, Methuen and Co.:

     The delicacy which prompts a later generation to reject that name is by no means necessarily a result of stricter habits, is far more often due to the flatness which comes of untiring repetition and to the greater piquancy of litotes.

• litotic
• litotical
• litotically

• paradiastole
• double negative
• Appendix:Snowclones/not the X-est in the Y

• litotes on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Litotes in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• Sottile, oil test, toilest, toilets

• IPA^(key): /li.tɔt/

litotes f

1. plural of litote

Borrowed from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.tɔ.teːs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈliː.to.tes]

lītotēs f (genitive lītotētos); third declension (Late Latin)

1. (rhetoric) litotes (rhetorical understatement)

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant).

• → English: litotes (learned)
• → French: litote (learned)
  • → Russian: лито́та (litóta)
  • → Spanish: litote
• → German: Litotes (learned)
• → Italian: litote (learned)
• → Polish: litotes (learned)

• “litotes”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Souter, Alexander (1949), “lītotēs”, in A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D.‎^[2], 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published 1957, page 234

litotes m (definite singular litotesen, indefinite plural litoteser, definite plural litotesene)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by litot

litotes m (definite singular litotesen, indefinite plural litotesar, definite plural litotesane)

1. (pre-2005) alternative form of litot

Learned borrowing from Latin lītotēs. Doublet of litota.

• IPA^(key): /liˈtɔ.tɛs/
• Rhymes: -ɔtɛs
• Syllabification: li‧to‧tes

litotes m inan (indeclinable)

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

   Synonym: litota

• “litotes”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)

Learned borrowing from Late Latin lītotēs, from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs).

• Hyphenation: li‧to‧tes

litotes f (invariable)

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

• “litotes”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “litotes”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

• IPA^(key): /liˈtotes/ [liˈt̪o.t̪es]
• Rhymes: -otes
• Syllabification: li‧to‧tes

litotes f (plural litotes)

1. (uncommon) alternative form of lítote
2. plural of litote

• “litotes”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025