Lexic.us

Definition of Diction

1. Noun. The articulation of speech regarded from the point of view of its intelligibility to the audience.

2. Noun. The manner in which something is expressed in words. "Use concise military verbiage"

Definition of Diction

1. n. Choice of words for the expression of ideas; the construction, disposition, and application of words in discourse, with regard to clearness, accuracy, variety, etc.; mode of expression; language; as, the diction of Chaucer's poems.

Definition of Diction

1. Noun. The effectiveness and degree of clarity of word choice, and presentation of said words. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Diction

1. choice and use of words in speech or writing [n -S]

Medical Definition of Diction

1. Choice of words for the expression of ideas; the construction, disposition, and application of words in discourse, with regard to clearness, accuracy, variety, etc.; mode of expression; language; as, the diction of Chaucer's poems. "His diction blazes up into a sudden explosion of prophetic grandeur." (De Quincey) Synonym: Diction, Style, Phraseology. Style relates both to language and thought; diction, to language only; phraseology, to the mechanical structure of sentences, or the mode in which they are phrased. The style of Burke was enriched with all the higher graces of composition; his diction was varied and copious; his phraseology, at times, was careless and cumbersome. "Diction is a general term applicable alike to a single sentence or a connected composition. Errors in grammar, false construction, a confused disposition of words, or an improper application of them, constitute bad diction; but the niceties, the elegancies, the peculiarities, and the beauties of composition, which mark the genius and talent of the writer, are what is comprehended under the name of style." Origin: L. Dicto a saying, a word, fr. Dicere, dictum, to say; akin to dicare to proclaim, and to E. Teach, token: cf. F. Diction. See Teach, and cf. Benison, Dedicate, Index, Judge, Preach, Vengeance. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Diction

dictatorlike dictators dictatorship dictatorship of the majority dictatorship of the proletariat dictatorships dictatory dictatour dictatours dictatress

dictatresses dicted dictier dictiest dicting diction (current term) dictional dictionally dictionalrian dictionarian

dictionarians dictionaric dictionaried dictionaries dictionary dictionary attack dictionary attacker dictionary attackers dictionary attacks dictionary definition

Literary usage of Diction

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

1. The Practical Elements of Rhetoric: With Illustrative Examples by John Franklin Genung (1896)
"diction. Definition of diction. —The word diction is the name given to that ... A writer's diction, then, as we generally speak of it, is the kind of words ..."

2. The Attic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeos by Richard Claverhouse Jebb (1876)
"diction of In applying more closely to Isokrates the general description just quoted, ... It is a compromise between the 'elaborate' diction represented by ..."

3. A History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe from the Earliest Texts by George Saintsbury (1917)
"There is an appendix specially devoted to " Poetic diction" in which Wordsworth develops his objection to this. His argument is curious, and from his own ..."

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