meiosis

Modern Latin, from Ancient Greek μείωσις (meíōsis, “a lessening”), from μειόω (meióō, “I lessen”), from μείων (meíōn, “less”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /maɪˈəʊsɪs/

• Audio (US)

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• Homophone: miosis
• Rhymes: -əʊsɪs

meiosis (countable and uncountable, plural meioses)

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.

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

• (rhetoric): See hyperbole
• (cytology): mitosis

• (cytology): prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, reduction division, equation division

• meiotic
• meiotically

• meiosis on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

From Ancient Greek μείωσις (meíōsis).

meiosis f (plural meiosis)

1. (biology) meiosis

• “meiosis” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.