1
as in wind
language that is impressive-sounding but not meaningful or sincere
the mayor's promise to fight drugs was just rhetoric, since there was no money in the city budget for a drug program
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in poetry
the art or power of speaking or writing in a forceful and convincing way
great leaders have often been masters of rhetoric, which they have used for both good and ill
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rhetoric
But things appear much better now, with the U.S. and China toning down the rhetoric and agreeing to sit at the negotiation table even as the U.S. inked a trade deal with the U.K.
—
Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 20 May 2025
The couple is accused of manipulating church members through fear and religious rhetoric.
—Miami Herald, 16 May 2025
Such rhetoric alarms those who worry about reopening the divisions of 1971, when Bengali partisans fought Pakistani forces – and each other.
—Simon Montlake, Christian Science Monitor, 16 May 2025
Opponents argue the laws sanction discrimination and the exclusion of a vulnerable minority group and that rhetoric produced in these debates can stigmatize the transgender community.
—Sam Gringlas, NPR, 10 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for rhetoric
Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 20 May 2025
The couple is accused of manipulating church members through fear and religious rhetoric.
—Miami Herald, 16 May 2025
Such rhetoric alarms those who worry about reopening the divisions of 1971, when Bengali partisans fought Pakistani forces – and each other.
—Simon Montlake, Christian Science Monitor, 16 May 2025
Opponents argue the laws sanction discrimination and the exclusion of a vulnerable minority group and that rhetoric produced in these debates can stigmatize the transgender community.
—Sam Gringlas, NPR, 10 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for rhetoric
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rhetoric
Noun
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Nuclear energy can offer a zero-emission source of stable baseload electricity even when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow, but as the World Nuclear Association points out, almost all U.S. nuclear generating capacity comes from reactors built between 1967 and 1990.—
Ariel Cohen,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2025
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Remember too that strong winds, flash flooding, and hail aren't the only threats from thunderstorms.—
Peter Aitken,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 May 2025
Noun
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In this novel, a Vietnamese American writer best known for his poetry draws on his own experiences as a fast-food worker.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
26 May 2025
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Stanley Kubrick deliberately chose the Danube Waltz to emphasize the grace and poetry of movement in space – a floating ballet in outer space.—
David Szondy
May 25,
New Atlas,
25 May 2025
Noun
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This nonsense all tracks back to a May 9 visit Baraka, McIver and other members of Congress made to a New Jersey immigration detention center.—
Chris Brennan,
USA Today,
23 May 2025
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Stop this nonsense [or] your executives and employees will see the same fate… Make the correct decision and pay the ransom.—
Rick Sobey,
Boston Herald,
20 May 2025
Noun
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The world’s largest automaker said the 2026 Toyota RAV4 only will be offered as a hybrid or plug-in hybrid, eliminating a traditional gas engine in the vehicle for the first time.—
Michael Wayland,
CNBC,
21 May 2025
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The formula is powered by the digestive enzyme bromelain and paired with five herbs (ginger root, lemon balm, dandelion root, peppermint, and slippery elm) designed to improve digestion, prevent gas, and alleviate discomfort in just an hour.—
Kiana Murden,
Vogue,
20 May 2025
Noun
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Hop on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City, North Carolina, which winds through forested valleys and across the Nantahala Gorge, or ride the Tennessee Valley Railroad in Chattanooga, where restored locomotives follow historic routes—some even offering dinner and live jazz onboard.—
Symiah Dorsey,
Southern Living,
1 June 2025
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Al Foster, the jazz drummer who played in bands led by Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, among others, has died.—
Walden Green,
Pitchfork,
1 June 2025
Noun
-
Darrow, in spite of his powerful oratory, and in spite of outmaneuvering Bryan during their exchange, was up against the fact that Scopes had admitted to teaching evolution, in violation of the Butler Act.—
Dan Falk,
Smithsonian Magazine,
21 May 2025
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On Friday, as the Rams prepared for the second night of the draft, McVay used his oratory skills before another assemblage of pros.—
Gary Klein,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Pearlman thinks that Johnson’s bombast and bizarre stunts are incriminating enough without the need for the documentary to call him out explicitly.—
Charlotte Lytton,
Time,
13 May 2025
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And the score by experimental group Son Lux is a welcome shift away from orchestral bombast into more nuanced territory.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
29 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Much of that singularity was centered in McCarthy’s prose, which ricocheted—sometimes gracefully, sometimes jarringly—between gruff matter-of-factness and soaring, biblical grandiloquence.—
Alex Shephard,
The New Republic,
13 June 2023
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Several of them can fly, and all have at least a touch of grandiloquence to them.—
Michael Nordine,
Variety,
11 Aug. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Rhetoric.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rhetoric. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.
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