Reference to something with a name disproportionately lesser than its
nature (a kind of litotes).
is equivalent to tapinosis.
Said of an amputated leg.:
"It's just a flesh wound"
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
| Related Figures
Meiosis, as a kind of understatement, names one of the two principle
means of communicating through irony (the other being overstatement
see hyperbole, below).
Like meiosis, litotes is also a kind of deliberate understatement.
However, this term more often names understatement done by denying
something contrary to what one means.
Like meiosis, tapinosis involves calling something by a name that
diminishes its importance, or gives an understatement of its qualities.
- auxesis The exact opposite of meiosis
(overstates rather than understates for ironic effect).
- hyperbole The general term for
exaggeration, including auxesis. Not limited to ironic uses.
- charientismus This figure shares
with meiosis a similar strategy to mollify or lighten (though
not ironically). Charientismus usually involves reducing the effect
of a threat through teasing or mockery.
| Related Topics of Invention
Meiosis does not work as a figure unless one senses the degree of
difference between the label and the thing it labels. It is thus related
to this kind of comparative strategy.
| See Also
De Or. 3.53.202 ("extenuatio"); Quintilian 8.3.50;
Aquil. 46 ("elleipsis" [=meiosis], "detractio"); Melanch. ER D4v ("meiosis"
"tapinosis" "diminutio"); Sherry (1550) 61 ("miosis,"
"diminutio"); Peacham (1577) N4v; Putt. (1589) 195, 227 ("meiosis," "the