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In rhetoric, litotes (/ l aɪ ˈ t oʊ t iː z, ˈ l aɪ t ə t iː z /, US: / ˈ l ɪ t ə t iː z /), [1] also known classically as antenantiosis or moderatour, is a figure of speech and form of irony in which understatement is used to emphasize a point by stating a negative to further affirm a positive, often incorporating double negatives ...
Understatement often leads to litotes, rhetorical constructs in which understatement is used to emphasize a point. It is a staple of humour in English-speaking cultures. For example, in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, an Army officer has just lost his leg. When asked how he feels, he looks down at his bloody stump and responds, "Stings a bit."
The French actress Sarah Bernhardt was considered insufficiently understated in English terms. Photograph by Félix Nadar, c. 1864. This attitude of understatement was exemplified by a comment upon Sarah Bernhardt's violent depiction of Cleopatra in the 1891 play of that title: "How different, how very different, from the home life of our own dear Queen!"
Adynaton was a widespread literary and rhetorical device during the Classical Period.In the Eclogue of Plutarch, there is a long list of proverbs and the first section is titled ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΑΔΥΝΑΤΩΝ, consisting of proverbs that are built on adynaton. [5]
"The use of litotes is common in English, Russian, German, Dutch, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and French." This list makes litotes sound exclusive to these languages, or at least marks these languages as somehow more likely to use litotes. It's a very simple construction, most languages in the world probably use it in some form or another.
Both are "correct". However, it may be impractical to list all possible pronunciations. In such cases, the traditional (literary) pronunciation is the most difficult as well as the most anglicized and is therefore the one that should be transcribed. Other conventions are generally straightforward and can all be covered, simultaneously, by ...
In Jacques Derrida's ideas of deconstruction, catachresis refers to the original incompleteness that is a part of all systems of meaning.He proposes that metaphor and catachresis are tropes that ground philosophical discourse.
In Orator, Cicero depicts several models for speakers.Cicero states to the Romans the importance of searching and discovering their own sense of rhetoric.. “I am sure, the magnificence of Plato did not deter Aristotle from writing, nor did Aristotle with all his marvelous breadth of knowledge put an end to the studies of others.” [4] Cicero encouraged the plebeians through his writing ...