Procédé de style oů l'on dit le contraire de ce qu'on pense.
ETYM Latin, from Greek, to express by antithesis or negation.
The use of a word in a sense opposite to its normal sense (especially in irony).
Use of words in a sense opposite to literal.
(pl. -ses) Rhetoric use of a word in the opposite sense to its usual one, for humorous or ironic purposes.