La atenuación (del latín attenuatio), también denominada litotes, lítotes (del bajo latín litŏtes, y este del griego λιτότης) o litote (del francés litote), y con menos frecuencia extenuación (del latín extenuatio), es una figura retórica, relacionada con la ironía y el eufemismo, mediante la cual se afirma algo, disminuyendo (atenuando) o negando lo contrario de lo que se quiere afirmar o decir: "No poco" = Mucho. "No está bien" = Está mal. Constituye en realidad una clase de perífrasis o circunloquio.

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In rhetoric, litotes (/ˈlaɪtətiːz/, US /ˈlɪtətiːz/ or /laɪˈtoʊtiːz/) is a figure of speech that uses understatement to emphasize a point by stating a negative to further affirm a positive, often incorporating double negatives for effect. For example, "She's not bad looking" could express that someone is gorgeous—or could convey that she's neither particularly ugly or attractive. The degree of emphasis depends on context. For instance, the commonly used phrase "not bad" can indicate that something is either average or excellent. Along the same lines, litotes can be used to diminish the harshness of an observation; "He isn't the cleanest person I know" could be used as a means of indicating that someone is a messy person. The term is generally synonymous with meiosis, which means to diminish the importance of something, often at the expense of something else. Litotes is a form of understatement, always deliberate and with the intention of emphasis. However, the interpretation of negation may depend on context, including cultural context. In speech, it may also depend on intonation and emphasis; for example, the phrase "not bad" can be said in such a way as to mean anything from "mediocre" to "excellent". It can be used to soften harsher expressions, similar to euphemism. The use of litotes is common in English, Russian, German, Dutch, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ukrainian and French. It is a feature of Old English poetry and of the Icelandic sagas and is a means of much stoical restraint. The word litotes is of Greek origin, meaning "the property of being light (as opposed to heavy)", and is derived from the word litos meaning "plain, small or meager". George Orwell complained about overuse of the 'not un...' construction in his essay "Politics and the English Language".

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