nounWord forms:  plural -ses (-ˌsiːz)1. a type of cell division in which a nucleus divides into four daughter nuclei, each containing half the chromosome number of the parent nucleus: occurs in all sexually reproducing organisms in which haploid gametes or spores are produced
  Compare mitosis, 
  See also prophase (sense 2) 2.  rhetoric  another word for litotes 
 Word origin
C16: via New Latin from Greek: a lessening, from 
meioun to diminish, from 
meiōn less