What Is Litotes? | Definition & Examples

Litotes is a phrase that expresses an idea by negating its opposite. Examples include the common expressions “not half bad” to mean “good” and “not hard” to mean “easy.” Litotes is often used in everyday conversations and literature. It serves various purposes, such as conveying modesty, softening criticism, expressing irony, or subtly emphasizing a point.

Litotes definition

Litotes is a form of understatement that employs negative wording or terms to express a positive assertion. With litotes, instead of stating something directly, you state that the contrary statement is not true. This can be achieved in several ways:

• A positive statement is transformed into its opposite. For instance, “big accomplishment” is turned into “small accomplishment” and then negated (i.e., it becomes “no small accomplishment”). In this way, we end up with the litotic statement “Running a marathon in under two hours is no small accomplishment.
• Double negatives are used (e.g., “I don’t dislike it”). By combining the negative words “don’t” and “dislike,” you can indicate the opposite meaning and express an affirmative (i.e., that you like it).
• A statement that involves superlatives, such as “worst” or “finest,” is negated. For example, the litotic phrase “not the sharpest tool in the shed” is a humorous idiom that implies someone is not very intelligent.

Litotes always contains some form of negative statement. However, not all negative statements are examples of litotes. The phrase “Leave no avenue unexplored” contains a negation but is neither litotes nor an overstatement.

It is also important to note that litotes is often ambiguous, and its meaning depends on context and intonation. For example, the sentence “It’s not a Matisse” could be interpreted literally as “It’s not a Matisse; it’s a Cezanne” if someone incorrectly identifies a painting. However, it could also be an example of litotes, using verbal irony to understate how poorly painted an artwork is.

Litotes examples

Litotes is an indirect way to express negative or positive sentiments in everyday conversations. This could be done for several reasons ranging from avoiding hurting other people’s feelings to avoiding openly praising or agreeing with someone.

Examples of litotes in literature

Litotes is often used as a literary device to convey meaning indirectly, to create contrast, or for other stylistic reasons.

In the following lines from Sonnet 116, Shakespeare uses litotes to describe the enduring nature of love by declaring what love is not.

Why do we use litotes?

Litotes is a versatile figure of speech that allows speakers and writers to understate their point to achieve various effects:

• Conveying Modesty: Litotes can be used to downplay one’s accomplishments and avoid sounding boastful. This is also a way for a speaker or writer to establish ethos. For example, an athlete who has just broken his previous record might understate his achievement by saying his performance “wasn’t bad.”
• Softening criticism: We often use litotes to express criticism without being hurtful. This form of understatement can soften the impact of our words and convey our message indirectly. For instance, we may tell a friend “You’re not exactly the most organized person” instead of “Your organization skills are a disaster.”
• Adding emphasis: Litotes emphasizes a quality by negating the opposite of that quality. Counterintuitively, it emphasizes what it downplays. For example, if we say “That hotel was not the best accommodation we could have picked,” stressing the word “not,” we imply that the hotel was actually terrible.
• Expressing irony: Litotes can be utilized as a form of verbal irony. An example would be stating, “Well, that wasn’t exactly the smoothest landing,” after experiencing a turbulent landing where all the plane’s cabinets opened and items started to fall.
• Maintaining psychological distance: Litotic statements such as “I don’t hate it” or “not bad” are noncommittal; in other words, they give no clear indication of our thoughts and feelings. This is a way to avoid investing in a situation and thus making oneself vulnerable.

Frequently asked questions about litotes

What is the difference between litotes and verbal irony?

Litotes and verbal irony are two literary devices that are used to convey meaning indirectly, but they do so in different ways.

• Litotes is a form of understatement that downplays the significance of something by emphasizing its opposite. For example, the phrase “that’s not too shabby” indicates that something is actually good. Litotes can express verbal irony, but not all litotic statements are ironic.
• Verbal irony, on the other hand, is a broader term and involves statements that are contrary to their literal meaning. Its purpose is to add humor or make a point, and this can be achieved through sarcasm, overstatement, or understatement.

In short, verbal irony and litotes can sometimes overlap or be used in combination with each other. However, litotes relies on ironic understatement through negation, whereas verbal irony can involve various techniques that convey meaning beyond a literal interpretation.

What is an example of litotes?

An example of litotes is the sentence “That wasn’t the worst meal I’ve ever had.” Instead of directly stating that the meal was good or enjoyable, the speaker emphasizes that it was not the worst meal they have ever had, implying that it was acceptable.