MEIOSIS

• (noun) 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"

  synonyms : litotes

• (noun) (genetics) cell division that produces reproductive cells in sexually reproducing organisms; the nucleus divides into four nuclei each containing half the chromosome number (leading to gametes in animals and spores in plants)

  synonyms : miosis , reduction division

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.

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