English Dictionary

litotes

IPA（発音記号）

/laɪˈtəʊ.tiːz/

名詞

可算名詞 修辞法 不可算名詞

(rhetoric) An ironic figure of speech whereby something is stated by denying its opposite, particularly the negation of a negative quality to say something positive.

日本語の意味

否定形を用いて実は肯定的な意味を表す修辞技法。すなわち、反対の事柄を否定することで肯定的ニュアンスを伝える表現法。 / 控えめな表現の一種として、直接的な言い方を避け、婉曲的に肯定を表現する方法。

The novelist used litotes to hint at the hero's courage without overstating it.

その小説家は、反対を否定することで肯定を示す婉曲表現を用いて、英雄の勇気を大げさに言わずにほのめかした。

意味（1）

(rhetoric) An ironic figure of speech whereby something is stated by denying its opposite, particularly the negation of a negative quality to say something positive.

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.

litotes （ plural ）