You likely won’t use this word in regular conversation because it’s the name of a specific type of rhetorical device, but it’s fun to know the terminology for something you likely hear all the time. Saying, “The movie wasn’t bad,” is a classic example of litotes — it’s an understatement expressed in the negative to affirm the positive. You might say, “You won’t be sorry if you finish this assignment early,” to mean “You’ll be glad to finish the task.”