1
as in articulation
the clear and accurate pronunciation of words especially in public speaking Shakespearean actors with very good diction

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2
as in language
the way in which something is put into words the spare diction that is the hallmark of the poetry of Robert Frost

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of diction Raised in the Highbridge section of the Bronx not far from where DJ Kool Herc threw the 1973 party revered as rap music’s spiritual baby shower, Cardi bookends those songs with experiments in accentuating and contrasting her distinctly New York diction. Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 22 Sep. 2025 Everything about Baldwin’s style is too much; often one feels, in his diction, his elaborate, Jamesian syntactical structures, his sudden shifts of tone, that if the English language has a volume dial that goes up to ten, Baldwin is hot-wiring a go-around to push it to eleven or twelve. Garth Greenwell, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025 But even atop those peaks, the orchestra and chorus remained well-balanced, and the chorus’s diction impeccable. Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 16 Aug. 2025 Contemporaries often reported his near fixation on matters of diction, punctuation, and even spacing in his verses. Gregory Jusdanis, Literary Hub, 12 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for diction
Recent Examples of Synonyms for diction
Noun
  • With the facial articulation of a silent film star crossed with the savagery of a post-Saw killer, Art went from underground curiosity to horror icon within a decade.
    Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
  • Language was a solution to a formal problem, the articulation of consciousness.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • In a similar vein, Timnit Gebru, a computer scientist writing during her time working at Google, warned of the dangers of large language models acting as stochastic parrots, which repeat language patterns without understanding, and in doing so replicate the biases embedded in their training data.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Nov. 2025
  • The dust-up stems back to the Spanish singer’s recent appearance on the New York Times’ Popcast, where she was asked about singing in about 13 different languages one her new album Lux and the challenges of communicating with a global audience.
    Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 5 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • Don't sweat it — music aficionados can tune in and rock out to all of the stellar performances, speeches, and festivities via livestream this year.
    Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Nov. 2025
  • However, Victoria gave Brooklyn a special nod while thanking her children during a speech.
    Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 8 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • Even so, Israel was involved in drafting the resolution and is still trying to influence its wording, the official told CNN.
    Eugenia Yosef, CNN Money, 4 Nov. 2025
  • The new wording would also give the council wiggle room in deciding the city manager's annual salary, contract term and amount of severance pay.
    Elena Santa Cruz, AZCentral.com, 4 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • Take the shirt salesman, whose deliberate enunciations sound vaguely alien, almost Lanthimos-esque.
    Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 20 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The formulations, doses, and follow-up protocols vary widely.
    Lauryn Higgins, Flow Space, 6 Nov. 2025
  • In each formulation tested, the weight loss leveled off in mice treated with the plasmids.
    Brenda Goodman, CNN Money, 4 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • Davis also challenged that judgment, citing the First Amendment protections for religious expression.
    Ted Johnson, Deadline, 10 Nov. 2025
  • About presidential clemency power A pardon is an expression of forgiveness that eases the consequences of a criminal conviction, according to the DOJ.
    Kinsey Crowley, USA Today, 10 Nov. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Diction.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/diction. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

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