Definition:
A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is. Contrast with hyperbole. See also: litotes.
Examples and Observations:
- "The grave's a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace."
(Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress") - "I am just going outside and may be some time."
(Captain Lawrence Oates, Antarctic explorer, before walking out into a blizzard to face certain death, 1912) - "A soiled baby, with a neglected nose, cannot be conscientiously regarded as a thing of beauty."
(Mark Twain) - "This [double helix] structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest."
(J. Watson and F. Crick) - "I have to have this operation. It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain."
(Holden Caulfield in The Catcher In The Rye, by J. D. Salinger) - "It's just a flesh wound."
(Black Knight, after having both of his arms cut off, in Monty Python and the Holy Grail) - "The new EU member states of Poland and Lithuania have been arguing this week for the summit to be called off, and criticizing the German preparations. For historical reasons, the east Europeans are highly sensitive to any sign of Germany cutting deals with Russia over their heads."
(The Guardian, May 17, 2007) - "Well, that's cast rather a gloom over the evening, hasn't it?"
(Dinner guest, after a visit from the Grim Reaper, in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life) - "The British are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist bombings and threats to destroy nightclubs and airports, and therefore
have raised their security level from 'Miffed' to 'Peeved.' Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to 'Irritated' or
even 'A Bit Cross.' Brits have not been 'A Bit Cross' since the Blitz
in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out."
(anonymous post on the Internet, July 2007)
Pronunciation: UN-der-STATE-ment
Also Known As: litotes
