delicacy vs litotes

delicacy

noun
  • Tact and propriety; the need for such tact. 

  • Something appealing, usually a pleasing food, especially a choice dish of a certain culture suggesting rarity and refinement. 

  • The quality of being delicate. 

  • Refinement in taste or discrimination. 

  • Fineness or elegance of construction or appearance. 

  • Frailty of health or fitness. 

litotes

noun
  • An ironic figure of speech whereby something is stated by denying its opposite, particularly the negation of a negative quality to say something positive. 

How often have the words delicacy and litotes occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )