meiosis

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Pronunciation

• (British) IPA: /maɪˈəʊsɪs/

Noun

meiosis

1. (countable, rhetoric) A figure of speech whereby something is made to seem smaller or less important than it actually is; understatement.
   • 1965, John Fowles, The Magus:

     I knew, with one of those secret knowledges that can exist between two people, that her suicide was a direct result of my having told her of my own attempt – I had told it with a curt meiosis that was meant to conceal depths; and she had called my bluff one final time.

2. (uncountable, cytology) Cell division of a diploid cell into four haploid cells, which develop to produce gametes.

Synonyms

• (rhetoric) See understatement
• (cytology) reduction division

Antonyms

• (rhetoric) See hyperbole
• (cytology) mitosis

Translations

• French: méiose
• German: Meiose
• Portuguese: meiose, miose
• Russian: мейо́з
• Spanish: meiosis

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