1
The committee’s decision was not entirely unexpected, implying that the outcome was fairly predictable while keeping the tone restrained.
8 Litotes Examples
Use these examples to study structure, specificity, tone, and variation. They are demonstrations—not claims about a real person or organization unless the example itself makes that explicit.
Before you copy
What to notice in the examples
Strong litotes makes the indirect wording do a clear rhetorical job—such as restraint, irony, tact, emphasis, or tonal distance—without forcing the reader to decode an unnecessarily confusing double negative. In analysis, the writer should identify both the negated opposite and the positive or evaluative meaning the phrasing implies.
- Identify the positive judgment or claim that could be stated directly.
- Choose the opposite or contrary term whose negation will imply that judgment without merely repeating it.
- Make sure the negative construction is grammatical and immediately interpretable in context.
- Use the indirect form only when restraint, irony, diplomacy, understatement, or emphasis adds something the direct statement would not.
- In analysis, explain the tonal or argumentative effect rather than stopping after labeling the construction as litotes.
2
Completing the rescue in that weather was no small achievement, understating the scale of the accomplishment in order to emphasize it.
3
Her first attempt was not unsuccessful, suggesting meaningful success without making an expansive claim.
4
The evidence is not insignificant, signaling that it deserves serious attention while preserving analytical caution.
5
He is no stranger to difficult negotiations, indirectly establishing substantial experience.
6
The repair was not cheap, conveying that it was expensive without using the stronger direct adjective.
7
That was not the worst opening move, using restrained praise to imply that the move was at least competent.
8
The town is not without charm, acknowledging positive qualities while maintaining a measured or slightly detached tone.
Keep the underlying decision or pattern, then replace the subject, evidence, relationship, constraints, and tone with details that belong to your situation. If your final line still works after swapping only one noun, it may be too close to the example.