Antiphrasis

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An antiphrasis (from Greek and Latin: anti, opposite, and phrasis, diction) is a figure of speech that is a word used to mean the opposite of its usual sense, especially ironically.

Examples:

• "He is but a youngster" (describing a middle-aged man)
• "The past is strongest in its resurrection; but she will have neither." (succumbing to nostalgia; from "Three-Fold Flowers" by Andrea Duerme)