eloquent

eloquent

adjective

Definition of ELOQUENT

1

able to express oneself clearly and well <an eloquent writer and speaker, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the founders of the women's rights movement>

Synonyms eloquent, fluent, silver-tongued, well-spoken

Related Words facile, glib, smooth-tongued, voluble; expressive, outspoken, verbal, vocal; blabby, chatty, garrulous, loquacious, talkative, verbose; unfaltering, unhesitating

Near Antonyms faltering, halting, hesitant, maundering, mumbling, muttering, sputtering, stammering, stumbling, stuttering; mute, speechless, tongueless, tongue-tied, voiceless

Antonyms inarticulate, ineloquent, unvocal

2

clearly conveying a special meaning (as one's mood) <in an eloquent gesture, the defeated general was graciously given back his sword at the surrender ceremonies>

Synonyms eloquent, meaning, meaningful, pregnant, revealing, revelatory, significant, suggestive

Related Words graphic (also graphical), pictorial, vivid; evocative, redolent, reminiscent; sententious, weighty; flavorful, full-bodied, rich

Antonyms unexpressive

3

very dignified in form, tone, or style <President Kennedy's eloquent inaugural address is often credited with inspiring a whole generation>

Synonyms eloquent, formal, high-flown, lofty, majestic, stately, towering

Related Words affected, bombastic, declamatory, florid, flowery, grandiloquent, grandiose, highfalutin (also hifalutin), oratorical, pompous, pretentious, rhetorical (also rhetoric), stilted; Attic, cultured, refined; classy, courtly, fine, graceful, tasteful; aristocratic, genteel, patrician; correct, educated, grammatical, proper; academic (also academical), bookish, learned, literary

Near Antonyms casual, colloquial, conversational, informal, nonformal, slangy, unbookish, unliterary, vernacular; coarse, common, crass, crude, gross, ill-bred, indecent, lowbred, lowbrow, rough, rough-hewn, rude, tasteless, uncouth, uncultivated, uncultured, unpolished, unrefined, vulgar; incorrect, substandard, uneducated, ungrammatical, unlearned

Antonyms ineloquent, low, undignified