Definition of ELOQUENT

Did You Know?

Since "eloquent" can have to do with speaking, it makes sense that it comes from the Latin verb loqui, which means "to speak." "Loqui" is the parent of many "talkative" offspring in English. "Loquacious," which means "given to fluent or excessive talk," also arose from "loqui." Another "loqui" relative is "circumlocution," a word that means someone is talking around a subject to avoid making a direct statement (circum- means "around"). And a "ventriloquist" is someone who makes his or her voice sound like it’s coming from another source.

Examples of eloquent in a Sentence

He [H. L. Mencken] relished the vagaries of vernacular speech and paid eloquent homage to them in The American Language. — Jackson Lears, New Republic, 27 Jan. 2003 Samuel Johnson is palmed off in classrooms as a harmless drudge of a lexicographer, yet open the Dictionary anywhere and find precision and eloquent plainness. — Guy Davenport, The Geography of the Imagination, (1954) 1981 There was a burst of applause, and a deep silence which was even more eloquent than the applause. — Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge, 1886 His success serves as an eloquent reminder of the value of hard work. an eloquent writer and speaker, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the founders of the women's rights movement

Recent Examples on the Web

And yet the piece hung together perfectly, united not only in spirit but also by the soprano's luminous voice and eloquent phrasing. — Zachary Lewis, cleveland.com, "Apollo's Fire emerges victorious from 'Three Duels and a Wedding' (review)," 12 Feb. 2018 Graham was eloquent and effortless, even in her strapless corset mermaid gown, which was designed and finished for her in less than three weeks. — Brooke Bobb, Vogue, "Inside Oscars Night With Supermodel Ashley Graham," 25 Feb. 2019 Sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, these eloquent artworks speak poignantly of our shared – and often precarious voyage through landscapes, history and life. — George Fishman, miamiherald, "Monarchs ‘Brown and Native’ butterfly exhibit a response to contemporary events," 13 July 2018 Perhaps the most famous and certainly the most eloquent of the individuals who escaped slavery was the great Frederick Douglass. — Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, "Children’s Books: Speaking Plainly About Slavery," 18 Jan. 2019 He was not considered a skilled speaker, but his deeds were quite eloquent. — Caroline Hallemann, Town & Country, "Read the Full Transcript of Jim Baker's Eulogy for His Close Friend, George H.W. Bush," 6 Dec. 2018 Recovering has been a generations-long struggle, says Gaillard — a writer in residence at the University of South Alabama and an award-winning author who has chronicled the South in eloquent and important ways. — USA TODAY, "Nashville and the Destiny of Dissent," 15 Apr. 2018 All of those pieces are impassioned, eloquent, and, yes, angry about C.K.’s comeback. — David Roberts, Vox, "What so many men are missing about #MeToo," 10 Sep. 2018 Ojemann makes a cut in the side of the woman’s temporal lobe, which is above the ear, avoiding what’s known as the eloquent cortex, parts of the brain that are generally understood to allow people to move, hear, speak, and see. — Jacqueline Detwiler, Popular Mechanics, "The Heroes of Science Who Are Unlocking the Brain," 3 Oct. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'eloquent.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for eloquent

Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French, borrowed from Latin ēloquent-, ēloquens "capable of speech, expressing oneself fluently," from present participle of ēloquī "to utter, put into words," from ē- e- entry 1 + loquī "to talk, speak," probably going back to dialectal Indo-European *tlok^w- "talk," whence also Old Irish ad-tluichethar "(s/he) gives thanks" (originally with buide "thanks" as object, as in atluchedar buidi do Día "he thanks God"), do-tluichethar "(s/he) desires, beseeches, asks," Old Church Slavic tlŭk "interpreter" (from *tl̥k^w-o-)