Litotes–Litotes is a form of understatement which uses a negative to assert the opposite, positive quality. Litotes can also use double negatives. For example, if a person is very intelligent someone else might say, “He’s not dumb.” This is understatement because the person is far from dumb. One could also say, “He’s not unintelligent,” a double negative. Note that the understatement comes from context; if someone is just protesting another’s assertion that the man in question is dumb then it might not come off as understatement