Meiosis is a type of cell division that produces four daughter cells with half the number of chromosomes as the parent cell. It is an essential process in sexual reproduction and is also known as 'reduction division'. The term meiosis can be broken down into two crossword solutions: UNDERSTATEMENT (14 letters) and LITOTES (7 letters). UNDERSTATEMENT is a figure of speech in which a statement is made that is less than what is actually meant, while LITOTES is a form of UNDERSTATEMENT in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary.