Definition of "litotes" [‖Li•to•tes]

• A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite, as in This is no small problem. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "At first called litotes or meiosis, such understatement came to be called irony, at least by the end of the sixteenth century."
• "This construction is technically called litotes; it's a form of deliberate understatement that is often used comically."
• "A factually accurate restatement of my position, but a kind of litotes, like saying Lucy Liu is not very hideous at all."