Construct · 1 fields · 2 citations

litotes: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

● anchor · one figure, one field Nearest construct by meaning·not indexed
litotes1 CONSTRUCTLitotesLANHAM · NOT BAD

A single standalone construct; nearby constructs are located against it in the Collider. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.

Rhetoric

Affirming by denying the opposite

In rhetoric, litotes is the figure of understatement that affirms something by denying its contrary, as in "not bad" for good or "no small achievement" for a considerable one. Lanham's A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms defines it as deliberate understatement by negation, and Quintilian's The Orator's Education discusses the related restraint of overt claim. The referent is an ironic or modest affirmation reached through a negated opposite, often to signal restraint or dry emphasis.[1][2]

Unit
An affirmation expressed by negating its contrary
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Identified where a positive meaning is conveyed through the denial of its opposite

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Nearby constructs

figure2 fields · 3 citationsjingle · one word, two constructsgood2 fields · 5 citationsjingle · one word, two constructsnegation4 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, four constructs

References

  1. Lanham, R. A. (1991). A handlist of rhetorical terms (2nd ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 9780520076693
  2. Quintilian. (2001). The orator's education, Volume IV: Books 9–10 (D. A. Russell, Ed. & Trans.; Loeb Classical Library No. 127). Harvard University Press. (Original work published ca. 95 CE) ISBN 9780674995949

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