||Mei*o"sis (m&isl;*ō"s&ibreve;s), n. [NL., fr. Gr. mei`wsis, fr. meioy^n to make smaller, from mei`wn. See Meionite.] (Rhet.) Diminution; a species of hyperbole, representing a thing as being less than it really is.

• (Rhetoric) a figure of speech whereby something is made to seem smaller or less important than it is
       *1965: 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. — John Fowles, The Magus
  
• (cytology) Cell division of a diploid cell into four haploid cells, which develop to produce gametes.