litotes [ˈlaɪtəˌtiz, laɪˈtoʊtiz] n.
1.) An understatement by which an affirmative is expressed by negation of its contrary, as in 'not a little' for 'very' or a weaker expression used to suggest a stronger one (Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases).
Etymology: Late Latin, from Greek litotes, form litos single, simple, meagre.
" Vercotti: Doug (takes a drink) Well, I was terrified. Everyone was terrified of Doug. I've seen grown men pull their own heads off rather than see Doug. Even Dinsdale was frightened of Doug.
2nd Interviewer: What did he do?
Vercotti: He used... sarcasm. He knew all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and... satire. He was vicious.
Presenter: By a combination of violence and sarcasm, the Piranha brothers by February 1966 controlled London and the Southeast of England. It was in February, though, that Dinsdale made a big mistake ("Piranha Brothers", Monty Python, 1970).
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Went out for my housemate's birthday last night to Shoreditch; saw no small amount of dirty hipsters with moustaches.
14 comments:
Great word, I'll use it sometime :D
wow, nice blog you have here.
+
awsome post! will be using this in essays for sure!
"negation of its contrary" took me a few moments to get that. i get it though.
great well let's see if I will use it sometimes
cant stand hipsters! ;D
Love this site thanks for word of the day.
Another great word :] thanks for all the posts.
nice word, poor hipsters, lol.
Awesome word. Great blog, keep it up!
Another day, another useful word.
Great word! will try and use it in conversation today ;D
are you working for encyclopedia britanica?
Great post man, loving the blog... Im following :)
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