eloquent
adjective
Simple meaning
Speaking or writing in a clear, moving, and convincing way.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehluhkwuhntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɛləkwənt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Effective in expressing meaning by speech.
Fluently persuasive and articulate.
medicine
Relating to areas in the brain that serve an identifiable neurological function, in which injury leads to focal deficits or disability.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Effective in expressing meaning by speech.
Used this way, eloquent is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in academic writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Formal
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Where it naturally appears
- Academic writing
Usage note
Comfortable in writing and prepared speech; in casual conversation a shorter everyday word usually sounds more natural.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Word Forms
Eloquent · Eloquence · Eloquently
Where This Word Comes From
From Latin 'eloquentem', from 'eloqui' meaning to speak out, 'e-' (out) plus 'loqui' (to speak).
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.