Meiosis (figure of speech)
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/* Examples */
{{for|the method of cell division|meiosis}}
In [[rhetoric]], '''meiosis''' is a [[figure of speech]] that intentionally understates something or implies that it is lesser in significance or size than it really is. Meiosis is the opposite of [[auxesis]], and is also sometimes used as a [[synonym]] for [[litotes]]<ref>Encarta World English Dictionary (1999)</ref><ref>The Times English Dictionary (2000)</ref><ref name="oed">OED 1st edition</ref> The term is derived from the Greek ''mei-o-o'' (“to make smaller”, "to diminish").
==Examples==
*"[[The Troubles]]" as a name for decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
*A lawyer defending a schoolboy who has set fire to his school might call the act of arson a "prank", in this case using meiosis in an attempt to diminish the significance of the act (actually, grand [[arson]]) to the level of a harmless joke or minor act of [[vandalism]].
* "The Recent Unpleasantness" used in Southern American idiom to refer to the American Civil War and its aftermath
==See also==
*[[Auxesis]]
*[[Figure of speech]]
*[[Litotes]]
*[[Paradiastole]]
*[[Euphemism]]
==References==
* {{cite web
| last = Burton
| first = Gideon O.
| title = Meiosis
| work = Silva Rhetoricae
| url = http://rhetoric.byu.edu/figures/M/meiosis.htm
| accessdate = 2006-12-24 }}
* {{cite web
| title = Meiosis
| work = The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition
| publisher = Houghton Mifflin Company
| url = http://www.bartleby.com/61/15/M0201500.html
| accessdate = 2006-12-24 }}
<references/>
[[Category:Rhetorical techniques]]
[[bs:Mejoza (figura)]]
[[hr:Mejoza (figura)]]
[[mk:Мејоза (стилистика)]]