Definition of Rhetoric

1. Noun. Using language effectively to please or persuade.

Generic synonyms: Expressive Style, Style
Terms within: Rhetorical Device
Derivative terms: Rhetorician

2. Noun. High-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation. "An excessive ornateness of language"
Exact synonyms: Grandiloquence, Grandiosity, Magniloquence, Ornateness
Specialized synonyms: Flourish, Blah, Bombast, Claptrap, Fustian, Rant
Generic synonyms: Expressive Style, Style
Derivative terms: Grandiloquent, Grandiose, Magniloquent, Ornate

3. Noun. Loud and confused and empty talk. "Mere rhetoric"
Exact synonyms: Empty Talk, Empty Words, Hot Air, Palaver
Generic synonyms: Bunk, Hokum, Meaninglessness, Nonsense, Nonsensicality
Derivative terms: Palaver

4. Noun. Study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking).

Definition of Rhetoric

1. n. The art of composition; especially, elegant composition in prose.

Definition of Rhetoric

1. Adjective. (synonym of rhetorical) ¹

2. Noun. The art of using language, especially public speaking, as a means to persuade. ¹

3. Noun. Meaningless language with an exaggerated style intended to impress. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Rhetoric

1. the study of effective speech and writing [n -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Rhetoric

rheotropic
rheotropism
rhestocythemia
rhesus
rhesus disease
rhesus factor
rhesus incompatibility
rhesus macaque
rhesus macaques
rhesus monkey
rhesus monkeys
rhesuses
rhetic
rhetizite
rhetor
rhetoric (current term)
rhetorical
rhetorical device
rhetorical devices
rhetorical induction
rhetorical mode
rhetorical question
rhetorical questions
rhetorically
rhetoricalness
rhetoricate
rhetoricated
rhetoricates
rhetoricating
rhetorication

Literary usage of Rhetoric

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1919)
"This called into being teachers of rhetoric and oratory who gradually ... Aristotle is credited with having made Empedocles the inventor of rhetoric. ..."

2. Publishers Weekly by Publishers' Board of Trade (U.S.), Book Trade Association of Philadelphia, American Book Trade Union, Am. Book Trade Association, R.R. Bowker Company (1878)
"Chart of Chem., ÍS Afl. COMPOSITION AND rhetoric See also Elocution. Grammar. Literature, etc. Abbott's How to Write Clearly, 60 с Rot. ..."

3. Encyclopaedia Britannica, a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and edited by Hugh Chisholm (1910)
"The last event mentioned in the rhetoric to Alexander occurred in 340, ... We may take it then that the last date in the rhetoric to Alexander is 340; ..."

4. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1919)
"This called into U-in^ leathers oí rhetoric and oratory who gradually ort:*nuc<l rhetorical expression into a science far-reaching and ..."

5. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1843)
"(l) Whatever suspicions may be suggested by the air of rhetoric and declamation, which seems to prevail in these passages, the substance of them is ..."

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