diction
/ˈdɪk.ʃən/
diction noun: choice and use of words, especially with regard to effective communication; the effectiveness and degree of clarity of word choice and expression.
Noun
diction (countable and uncountable, plural dictions)
- Choice and use of words, especially with regard to effective communication; the effectiveness and degree of clarity of word choice and expression.
- the identification of the poetic impulse with sonorous diction
- His poor diction meant that most of the audience didn't really understand the key points of the presentation.
- Enunciation, pronunciation, or both.
diction meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
diction in Hindi
- diction, style
- इबारत ibārat
diction in Tamil
- சொற்றேர்வு, சொல்நடை
diction in Urdu
- عبارت, انشا
diction in Bengali
- শব্দচয়ন, বাচনভঙ্গি
More languagesFewer languages
- diction in Malayalam
- പ്രസംഗശൈലി, വാചകരീതി, ഭാഷ, സംസാരരീതി
- diction in Kannada
- ಮಾತುಗಾರಿಕೆ, ಬರಹಗಾರಿಕೆ, ಪದವಿನ್ಯಾಸ, ಪದಜೋಡಣೆ
- diction in Indonesian
- diksi
- diction in Persian
- گویه guye, بیان bayân
Examples of diction in a sentence
- This attack on Latinate diction, it should be noted, often took on an explicitly chauvinistic edge.
- Throughout the work, arcane diction such as "dimmen," "strangury," "collapsion," "scrute" abounds.
- Teachers and students alike have chosen the purified and enriched over the old prejudice-encrusted diction.
Forms of diction
| plural | dictions |
|---|
Origin of diction
From late Middle English diccion (“something said; a word or phrase”) (an obsolete sense in Modern English), borrowed directly from Latin dictiō (“a saying, speaking, uttering”) or from Old French dicïon (“word”) (Anglo-Norman dictyoun), from Late Latin dictiō (“word”), both from dīcō (“to say, to talk”) + -tiō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show, to point out”). The modern senses of “choice and use of words” and “clarity of word choice” were likely influenced by additional senses of dictiō.
Words formed from diction
Words that rhyme with diction
- friction
- astriction
- jurisdiction
- addiction
- benediction
- contradiction
- conviction
- depiction
- valediction
- constriction
- dereliction
- fan fiction
30 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- fiction
- indiction
- restriction
- affliction
- emiction
- eviction
- faan fiction
- infriction
- malediction
- prediction
- science fiction
- striction
- abstriction
- affixion
- condiction
- confliction
- effiction
- infixion
- miction
- pilimiction
- postdiction
- preconstriction
- prefixion
- reliction
- renoviction
- retrodiction
- scientifiction
- stiction
- suffixion
- transfixion
Questions about diction
- What does diction mean?
- Diction means choice and use of words, especially with regard to effective communication; the effectiveness and degree of clarity of word choice and expression.
- What is diction in Hindi?
- Diction in Hindi is इबारत (ibārat). See Diction meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is diction?
- Diction is a noun.
- How do you pronounce diction?
- Diction is pronounced /ˈdɪk.ʃən/.
- What is the plural of diction?
- The plural of diction is dictions.
Words near diction in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: diction (page history and authors); इबारत (Hindi) (page history and authors); diction (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); diction (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Diction (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); diction (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); diction (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-diction.ogg.
Cite this entry: “diction.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/diction. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.