litotes.

Understatement expressed by denying a contrary or opposite quality.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• deliberate litotes
• restrained litotes

On the page

‘Not unkind’ let her offer praise through litotes.

His litotes made the danger sound manageable without quite denying it.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.