rhetoric
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Language used to persuade or impress people.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rehterikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹɛtɚɪk
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.
noun
Using language effectively to please or persuade
The art of using language, especially public speaking, as a means to persuade.
adjective
Synonym of rhetorical.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Using language effectively to please or persuade
Used this way, rhetoric is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use rhetoric
- “His passionate rhetoric during the speech captivated the entire audience.”noun
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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.