litotes

Figure of speech

Instance of: stylistic device
Subclass of: rhetoric

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

In rhetoric, litotes is a figure of speech and form of irony to emphasize a point by stating a negative to affirm a positive. In speech, litotes may depend on intonation and emphasis; for example, the phrase "not bad" can be intonated differently so as to mean either "mediocre" or "excellent". The interpretation of negation may also depend on context, including cultural context. Litotes can be used euphemistically to diminish the harshness of an observation: "He isn't the cleanest person I know" could be used to indicate that someone is a messy person.

Overview

All data

14 statements · 21% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Said to be the same as: Q13199916

On other databases

12 identifiers linking litotes across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

21%

externally sourced

Source last edited March 31, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). litotes (Q324939). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/litotes-Q324939