T S Eliot's quirky figure of speech

• Understatement for effect
• Figure of speech like "not unlike"
• 'Not unhappy,' e.g
• Ironical understatement
• using ___: “Mary had no giant lamb / Its fleece was not unwhite”
• Little child in stories making understatement
• Literary understatement

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
rhetorical figure in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its opposite, from Greek litotes , literally "plainness, simplicity," from litos "smooth, plain, small, meager," from PIE root *(s)lei- "slimy, sticky, slippery" (hence "smooth"); ...

WordNet Word definitions in WordNet
n. understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary); "saying `I was not a little upset' when you mean `I was very upset' is an example of litotes" [syn: meiosis ]