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Meaning of litotes | Babel Free

Noun CEFR B1
/laɪˈtəʊ.tiːz/

Definitions

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

Equivalents

Français litotes
Português lítotes

Examples

“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.”

CEFR level

B1
Intermediate
This word is part of the CEFR B1 vocabulary — intermediate level.

See also

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