Litotes
- File photo | Credit Dmitry Khrustalev-Grigoriev
Definition and Examples of Litotes
Litotes (etymologically derives from the Greek word “litos,” literally means “plain,” “small,” or “meagre”) is a figure of speechOpens in new window that uses understatementOpens in new window to emphasize a point, of which an affirmationOpens in new window is expressed by the negative of the opposite, thereby amounting to a double negativeOpens in new window.
Litotes usually occurs when a speaker attempts to avoid making an affirmative claim directly, but instead denies its opposite. As in: ‘A citizen of no mean city’. In litotes two negatives do not just cancel out, nor do they merely make a positive, but effectively make a strong positive.
Examples of Litotes
Litotes understatement
You are no ordinary girl.
Actual expression
You are ordinary girl.
Litotes understatement
You're not wrong, that's not a good idea.
Actual expression
You are wrong, that’s a bad idea.
Litotes understatement
You are no ordinary girl.
Actual expression
You are ordinary girl.
Litotes understatement
She is not as young as she was.
Actual expression
She is old.
Litotes understatement
It's not my first major project..
Actual expression
I am experienced.
Litotes understatement
This is no trivial issue.
Actual expression
This is a serious issue.
Litotes Expression with Double Negatives
- “Thus I consent, sir, to this Constitution, because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best.”
— Franklin, speech at Federal Ratifying Convention (1787)
- “Men whom one met in Washington were not unhappy about the state of things, as I had seen men unhappy in the North and in the West.”
— Trollope, North America (1862)
- “She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined. She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot.”
Twain, Following the Equator (1897)
- “A physician being mentioned who had lost his practice, because his whimsically changing his religion had made people distrustful of him, I maintained that this was unreasonable, as religion is unconnected with medical skill.
Johnson (replies) : “Sir, it is not unreasonable; for when people see a man absurd in what they understand, they may conclude the same of him in what they do not understand.”— Bosswell, Life of Johnson (1791)
Litotes may also be used to express two contrasting ideas as in the expression below:
Conclusion
Litotes significantly adds elegance, variety and rhetoric effect in which case it understates a serious situation, by making it seem less important than it really is; a vital means of achieving this is the use of double negatives. This device emphasize a point without wounding humane feelings.
Litotes is a stylistic device originated from Ancient English poetry; it is wildly used in present time literature and in contemporary conversations.