Meiosis

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Meiosis (pronounced 'my-OH-sis', IPA: /maɪ 'əʊ sɪs /) is the opposite of hyperbole, or exaggeration. Meiosis is a more academic word for what is commonly called understatement. It is a common British form of modesty, as when the student who has just been awarded a First tells her proud parents, "I didn't do too badly".

Etymological note: The English word is a transliteration of its Greek ancestor μείωσις (meiōsis), which means ‘diminution’ - a noun from the verb μειόω (meiŏō), ‘I lessen, diminish’.