Litotes
Litotes is a speech device by which a statement is made indirectly by denying its opposite, usually with an effect of a minimization [Baldick, 142].
Litotes is defined as a figure of speech which consists of an understatement for emphasis and is consequently the opposite of hyperbole. Frequently used in everyday speech (frequently with a negative assertion) and typically with laconic or ironic intentions. A stock instance is ‘not bad’ meaning ‘very good’ [Cuddon, 405].
A figure of speech in which emphasis is reached by negation is called litotes. For example, the common expressions “not bad!” and “no mean feat.” Litotes is a stylistic feature of Old English poetry and it is responsible for much of its characteristic stoical restraint [3].
Litotes is a speech device describing the object to which it refers not directly but through the negation of the opposite [4].
⠀ 1. Chris Baldick. (2015). The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
⠀ 2. Cuddon J. A. (2013). A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.
⠀ 3. Retrieved from: Britannica Online Encyclopedia [https://www.britannica.com/art/litotes].
⠀ 4. Retrieved from: ThoughtCo [https://www.thoughtco.com/litotes-figure-of-speech-1691253].