Rhet. [Gr. λῑτότης, f. λῑτός smooth, plain, small, meager.] A figure of speech, in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary; an instance of this.
Examples of litotes are: ‘A citizen of no mean city’; ‘When no small tempest lay on us.’
1657. J. Smith, Myst. Rhet., 3.
1696. in Phillips (ed. 5).
1727. Pope, etc., Art of Sinking, 115. The litotes or diminution, [is the peculiar talent] of ladies, whisperers, and backbiters.
1883. Schaff, Hist. Chr. Ch., I. v. 291. Pressing into his service … the litotes and other rhetorical figures.
