rhetoric
/ˈɹɛtəɹɪk/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
also/ɹɪˈtɒɹɪk/
rhetoric noun: the art of using language, especially public speaking, as a means to persuade.
Noun
rhetoric (countable and uncountable, plural rhetorics)
- The art of using language, especially public speaking, as a means to persuade.
- 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.2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 53
- “As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters. We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, echoing his long-standing...2024 December 24, Aaron Pellish, “Trump says he will direct Justice Department to ‘vigorously pursue the death penalty’”, in CNN
- Meaningless language with an exaggerated style intended to impress.
- It’s only so much rhetoric.
Adjective
rhetoric
- Synonym of rhetorical.
- Synonyms:
- rhetorical
rhetoric meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
rhetoric in Hindi
- art of using language for persuasion
- वाक्पटुता vākpaṭutā, शब्दाडम्बर śabdāḍambar, वक्रपटुता vakrapṭutā, बलाग़त balāġat, फ़साहत fasāhat
rhetoric in Tamil
- பேச்சலங்காரம், பேச்சுச் சாதுரியம், சொல்லாட்சி, சொற்சிலம்பம், உணர்வைக் கிளர்ந்தெழச் செய்யும் பேச்சு, அலங்காரம்
rhetoric in Urdu
- art of using language for persuasion
- بَلَاغَت balāġat, فَصَاحَت fasāhat
rhetoric in Bengali
- rhetoric; the science or study of figures of speech and literary ornaments
- অলঙ্কারশাস্ত্র oloṅkarśastro
More languagesFewer languages
- rhetoric in Telugu
- వాక్చాతుర్యాలు, వాక్చాతుర్యం, వాక్చాతుర్యము
- rhetoric in Malayalam
- വാഗ്പാടവശാസ്ത്രം, പ്രസംഗവിദ്യ, കൃത്രിമപദപ്രയോഗം, അലങ്കാരശാസ്ത്രം
- rhetoric in Kannada
- ಮಾತುಗಾರಿಕೆ, ಮಾತಿನ ಜಾಣ್ಮೆ, ಭಾಷಣಕಲೆ, ಲೇಖನ ಚಾತುರ್ಯ
- rhetoric in Punjabi
- ਬਲਾਗ਼ਤ balāġat, ਫ਼ਸਾਹਤ fasāhat
- rhetoric in Gujarati
- રેટરિક
- rhetoric in Sanskrit
- वाक्पटुता vākpaṭutā, शब्दाडम्बर śabdāḍambara, वक्रपटुता vakrapaṭutā
- rhetoric in Nepali
- बयानबाजी
- rhetoric in Tagalog
- sayusay
- rhetoric in Arabic
- بَلَاغَة balāḡa, فَصَاحَة faṣāḥa
- rhetoric in Malay
- retorik
- rhetoric in Indonesian
- retorika
- rhetoric in Persian
- بَلَاغَت balāġat, فَصَاحَت fasāhat
- rhetoric in Thai
- วาทศิลป์ waa-tá-sǐn, วาทศาสตร์ waa-tá-sàat
- rhetoric in Vietnamese
- tu từ học
Examples of rhetoric in a sentence
- He was capable of using lawyerly rhetoric, at times, to the brink of pettifoggery.
- You need to tone down the rhetoric.
- The president has recently dialled down the rhetoric.
Synonyms of rhetoric
Forms of rhetoric
| plural | rhetorics |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | rhetorick |
Origin of rhetoric
Inherited from Middle English rhetorik, rhetoric, borrowed from Old French rhetorique, borrowed from Latin rhētorica, borrowed from Ancient Greek ῥητορικὴ (rhētorikḕ), ellipsis of ῥητορῐκή τέχνη (rhētorĭkḗ tékhnē).
Inherited from Middle English rhetorik, borrowed from Old French rhetorique, borrowed from Latin rhētoricus, borrowed from Ancient Greek ῥητορικός (rhētorikós), from ῥήτωρ (rhḗtōr, “public speaker”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós). By surface analysis, rhetor + -ic.
Words formed from rhetoric
Questions about rhetoric
- What does rhetoric mean?
- Rhetoric means the art of using language, especially public speaking, as a means to persuade.
- What is rhetoric in Hindi?
- Rhetoric in Hindi is वाक्पटुता (vākpaṭutā), शब्दाडम्बर (śabdāḍambar), वक्रपटुता (vakrapṭutā). See Rhetoric meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is rhetoric?
- Rhetoric can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce rhetoric?
- Rhetoric is pronounced /ˈɹɛtəɹɪk/.
- What is the plural of rhetoric?
- The plural of rhetoric is rhetorics.
Words near rhetoric in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rhetoric (page history and authors); rhetoric (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); অলঙ্কারশাস্ত্র (Bengali) (page history and authors); rhetoric (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rhetoric (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rhetoric (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rhetoric (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rhetoric (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-rhetoric2.wav.
Cite this entry: “rhetoric.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rhetoric. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.