rhetoric

rhet·o·ric

noun \ˈre-tə-rik\

Definition of RHETORIC

1

: the art of speaking or writing effectively: as

a : the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times

b : the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion

2

a : skill in the effective use of speech

b : a type or mode of language or speech; also : insincere or grandiloquent language

3

: verbal communication : discourse

Examples of RHETORIC

1. a college course in rhetoric
2. <the mayor's promise to fight drugs was just rhetoric, since there was no money in the city budget for a drug program>
3. The media almost never discuss what the sweeping dismantling of public services inherent in the rhetoric of the antigovernment movement would mean in practice. —E. J. Dionne, Jr., Commonweal, 20 Nov. 2009
4. What they are in reality are the romantic words of a man who needs glorious rhetoric to cover up murderous reality. —Pete Hamill, Cosmopolitan, April 1976
5. No speech could have been more thoroughly honest in its intention: the frigid rhetoric at the end was as sincere as the bark of a dog, or the cawing of an amorous rook. —George Eliot, Middlemarch, 1872
6. Otherwise he might have been a great general, blowing up all sorts of towns, or he might have been a great politician, dealing in all sorts of parliamentary rhetoric; but as it was, he and the Court of Chancery had fallen upon each other in the pleasantest way, and nobody was much the worse… —Charles Dickens, Bleak House, 1852-53

Origin of RHETORIC

Middle English rethorik, from Anglo-French rethorique, from Latin rhetorica, from Greek rhētorikē, literally, art of oratory, from feminine of rhētorikos of an orator, from rhētōr orator, rhetorician, from eirein to say, speak — more at word

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to RHETORIC

Synonyms

bombast, fustian, gas, grandiloquence, hot air, oratory, verbiage, wind

Antonyms

inarticulateness

Related Words

claptrap, drivel, gibberish, hogwash, humbug, jabberwocky, jazz, moonshine, nonsense; affectedness, floweriness, grandiosity, loftiness, pomposity, pretension, pretentiousness; garrulity, garrulousness, verboseness, verbosity, windiness, wordiness

Other Grammar and Linguistics Terms

ablaut, allusion, anacoluthon, diacritic, gerund, idiom, infinitive, metaphor, semiotics, simile

rhetoric

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Principles of training communicators. It may entail the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times, and it can also involve the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion. Classical rhetoric probably developed along with democracy in Syracuse (Sicily) in the 5th century BC, when dispossessed landowners argued claims before their fellow citizens. Shrewd speakers sought help from teachers of oratory, called rhetors. This use of language was of interest to philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle because the oratorical arguments called into question the relationships among language, truth, and morality. The Romans recognized separate aspects of the process of composing speeches, a compartmentalization that grew more pronounced with time. Renaissance scholars and poets studied rhetoric closely, and it was a central concern of humanism. In all times and places where rhetoric has been significant, listening and reading and speaking and writing have been the critical skills necessary for effective communication.