What's the word/phrase for defining something or someone

>>8372673
Thanks, but it's more of a casual idiom/phrase than a formal philosophical method/theory.

Also maybe worth noting is that I already tried various search engines which are all rendered useless when your query includes "define" because then all they want to give you is definitions of words.

litote

>>8372681

Litote is trope that builds a slightly positive connotation through a negative grammatical construction.

I.e. That Shelley talks a lot but she's not undesirable.

>>8372664
Definition by Genus and Difference, or, A Genus-differentia defintion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genus%E2%80%93differentia_definition

This might not be what you are looking for

>>8372692
>For example, if you ask me what is good, and I say "Well, it's not murdering children, it's not stealing, etc.," then what am I doing?
"good" has a slightly positive connotation, bro

>>8372681
>>8372692

Hate to be THAT guy, but "litote" is not a word. There is no such thing as "a litote", just the rhetorical device "litotes".

>>8372692
Oh, and it also doesn't have to be only slightly positive. For example, if you comment about a girl saying that she's insanely hot, I might say "well, she isn't ugly" as a way of agreeing with you.

>>8372740
This is different than what you posted in the OP

>>8372730
the guy who can't speak french? or the guy who can't speak greek?

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/love/

>>8372730
>rhetorical device


aren't those words though

>>8372743
OP here. That guy isn't me.

>>8372664
Critic. Basically you are just a bitch who posits nothing and can only attempt to negate the actual creativity of your superiors. Grow the fuck up.

>>8372794
That is not what I was meant. I'm not necessarily talking about values exclusively I just mean anyone defining anything or anyone by what that thing or person is not. For example, instead of saying you want to hire a painter, you might say "I want someone to work on my house who is not a plumber, not an electrician, and not a carpenter."

>>8372808
It is literally this then OP

>>8372710

>>8372808
why do you want a butcher to work on your house?

>>8372794
Trying too hard to fit in.

>>8372664
I'm not sure if there's a word for it, but you're euphemistically slighting someone, implying they have no value to bring, except for the value that comes associated with being a normal human.

>>8372818
Because it implies that he cares little about the work and just wants it taken care of by someone quickly. (or maybe it's just sarcasm?)

>>8372750
What the fuck are you talking about? I am talking about a term in English, motherfucker, do you speak it?

>>8372770
I really have no clue what the hell you're even trying to say.

How much simpler can I make this for you people. When referring to that particular rhetorical device while using the English language, we say "litotes". Always. There is no such fucking thing as "a litote". If you want to refer to the use of this rhetorical device, you would say "The writer employed litotes to emphasize the woman's beauty" NOT "The writer employed a litote . . . " Is that clear enough?

>>8372743 #
I'm not OP. I meant that litotes does not have to be used only to give a slightly positive connotation, but can also give a dramatically positive connotation, as in the example of my previous post.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophatic_theology

Probably not what youre looking for, but interesting nonetheless

File: chloe moretz guy.jpg (1MB, 1280x1280px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 1280x1280px

>>8372664

>>8373145
damn she ugly