Skip to content

rhetoric

/ˈɹɛtəɹɪk/noun3 syllables

Rhetoric means: high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation.

Synonyms for rhetoric11

noun, as in high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation

grandiosity, magniloquence, ornateness, grandiloquence

noun, as in loud and confused and empty talk

palaver, hot air, empty words, empty talk

also used for rhetoric

speechcraft, wordcraft, rhetorical

Includes material from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What does rhetoric mean?4

noun

1

high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation“the grandiosity of his prose”

2

loud and confused and empty talk“mere rhetoric”

3

using language effectively to please or persuade

4

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

Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Rhetoric in a sentence

  • The prince studied rhetoric, arithmetics, astronomy and music.lucasmg123
  • Such rhetoric serves to announce his ideological affiliations.mailohilohi
  • The purpose of this rhetoric is to appeal to his voters' ideological beliefs.mailohilohi
  • Beauty is that marvelous mystery that neither psychology nor rhetoric deciphers.carlosalberto
  • He described his ideas in a sentence with a lot of insignificant rhetoric.Eccles17
  • Divisive rhetoric fuels the animosity we see everywhere.Nuel
  • The homophobic rhetoric has declined over the years.artemlyubchenko
  • Humanitarian organizations fear the ongoing impasse and the hostile rhetoric could heighten local xenophobia.Cangarejo

Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.

Forms of rhetoric

as a noun

plural
rhetorics