rhetoric

noun

rhet·​o·​ric ˈre-tə-rik 

1

: the art of speaking or writing effectively: such as

a

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

classical rhetoric

b

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

students/scholars of rhetoric

took a college course in rhetoric

2

a

: skill in the effective use of speech

b

: a type or mode of language or speech

angry rhetoric

also : insincere or grandiloquent language

the rhetoric of politics

a speech free of empty rhetoric

… Julius Caesar is a highly rhetorical play, a play that both deploys rhetoric for dramatic purposes and investigates the consequences of its deployment for political purposes.

—Stanley Wells

3

: verbal communication : discourse

… knowledge is what ensues when rhetoric is successful, when rhetorician and audience reach agreement.

—Patricia Bizzell

Synonyms of rhetoric

• wind
• nonsense
• gas
• jazz
• oratory
• bombast
• fustian
• grandiloquence

Examples of rhetoric in a Sentence

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

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

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

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

a college course in rhetoric

the mayor's promise to fight drugs was just rhetoric, since there was no money in the city budget for a drug program

Recent Examples on the Web

So in communities with a more dense migrant population, there is a great deal of fear and uncertainty, anxiety because of the level of rhetoric that is- that is often employed when addressing issues around migration and the threats of deportation. —CBS News, 21 Dec. 2025

The shocking assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk on a Utah university campus in September sparked a firestorm of extreme rhetoric and recriminations. —Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 21 Dec. 2025

Lowe asked—amid a blizzard of rhetoric about the importance of human connection—how Swift had been processing the public reaction to The Life of a Showgirl. —Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 18 Dec. 2025

For many, the rhetoric revives memories of years defined by recession, hyperinflation and chronic shortages. —Carrie Kahn, NPR, 18 Dec. 2025

Word History

Etymology

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, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

rhetoric

noun

rhet·​o·​ric ˈret-ə-rik 

1

: the art of speaking or writing effectively

2

: the study or use of the principles and rules of composition

3

a

: skill in the effective use of speech

b

: language that is not honest, sincere, or meaningful

rhetorician

ˌret-ə-ˈrish-ən

noun