Rhetoric
adj, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 The art of using language, especially public speaking, as a means to persuade. countable, uncountable
"Transport Minister Marples, meanwhile, used arrogant rhetoric and showed his personal contempt for railways when confirming in Parliament that a third of the network was to be closed even before the survey results were known."
- 2 study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking) wordnet
- 3 Meaningless language with an exaggerated style intended to impress. countable, derogatory, sometimes, uncountable
"It’s only so much rhetoric."
- 4 loud and confused and empty talk wordnet
- 5 high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation wordnet
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- 6 using language effectively to please or persuade wordnet
- 1 Synonym of rhetorical.
Example
More examples"The end of which there were two little sketches of rhetoric and logic, the latter finishing with a specimen of a dispute in the Socratic method."
Etymology
From Middle English rethorik, from Latin rēthoricus, rhētoricus, from Ancient Greek ῥητορῐκός (rhētorĭkós). By surface analysis, rhetor + -ic.
From Middle English rethorik, rhetoric, from Old French rhetorique, from Latin rhētorica, from Ancient Greek ῥητορική (rhētorikḗ), ellipsis of ῥητορικὴ τέχνη (rhētorikḕ tékhnē), from ῥητορικός (rhētorikós, “concerning public speech”), from ῥήτωρ (rhḗtōr, “public speaker”).
Related phrases
More for "rhetoric"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.