Litotes has 2 different meanings across 1 category:
Noun
Noun
1
understatement for rhetorical effect (especially when expressing an affirmative by negating its contrary)
"saying `I was not a little upset' when you mean `I was very upset' is an example of litotes"
2
An ironic figure of speech whereby something is stated by denying its opposite, particularly the negation of a negative quality to say something positive.
Broader Terms (hypernyms)