Definitions for rhetoricˈrɛt ər ɪk

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Random House Webster's College Dictionary

rhet•o•ricˈrɛt ər ɪk(n.)

  1. the art of effectively using language, including the use of figures of speech. language skillfully used. a book or treatise on rhetoric.

    Category: Rhetoric

  2. the undue use of exaggerated language; bombast.

    Category: Rhetoric

  3. the art of prose writing.

    Category: Rhetoric

  4. the art of persuasive speaking; oratory.

    Category: Rhetoric

Origin of rhetoric:

1300–50; ME rethorik < ML rēthorica, L rhētorica < Gk rhētorikḕ (téchnē) rhetorical (art); see rhetor , -ic

Princeton's WordNet

  1. rhetoric(noun)

    using language effectively to please or persuade

  2. grandiosity, magniloquence, ornateness, grandiloquence, rhetoric(noun)

    high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation

    "the grandiosity of his prose"; "an excessive ornateness of language"

  3. palaver, hot air, empty words, empty talk, rhetoric(noun)

    loud and confused and empty talk

    "mere rhetoric"

  4. rhetoric(noun)

    study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking)

Wiktionary

  1. rhetoric(Noun)

    The art of using language, especially public speaking, as a means to persuade.

  2. rhetoric(Noun)

    Meaningless language with an exaggerated style intended to impress.

    Itu2019s only so much rhetoric.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Rhetoric(noun)

    the art of composition; especially, elegant composition in prose

  2. Rhetoric(noun)

    oratory; the art of speaking with propriety, elegance, and force

  3. Rhetoric(noun)

    hence, artificial eloquence; fine language or declamation without conviction or earnest feeling

  4. Rhetoric(noun)

    fig. : The power of persuasion or attraction; that which allures or charms

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

  1. Rhetoric

    the science or art of persuasive or effective speech, written as well as spoken, and that both in theory and practice was cultivated to great perfection among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and to some extent in the Middle Ages and later, but is much less cultivated either as a science or an art to-day.

The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz

  1. RHETORIC

    Language in a dress suit.


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