'Rhetoric' definitions:
Definition of 'rhetoric'
From: WordNet
noun
Using language effectively to please or persuade
noun
High-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation; "the grandiosity of his prose"; "an excessive ornateness of language" [syn: grandiosity, magniloquence, ornateness, grandiloquence, rhetoric]
noun
Loud and confused and empty talk; "mere rhetoric" [syn: palaver, hot air, empty words, empty talk, rhetoric]
noun
Study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking)
Definition of 'Rhetoric'
From: GCIDE
- Rhetoric \Rhet"o*ric\, n. [F. rh['e]torique, L. rhetorica, Gr. ???? (sc. ???), fr. ??? rhetorical, oratorical, fr. ??? orator, rhetorician; perhaps akin to E. word; cf. ??? to say.]
- 1. The art of composition; especially, elegant composition in prose. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Oratory; the art of speaking with propriety, elegance, and force. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Hence, artificial eloquence; fine language or declamation without conviction or earnest feeling. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Fig. : The power of persuasion or attraction; that which allures or charms. [1913 Webster]
- Sweet, silent rhetoric of persuading eyes. --Daniel. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'rhetoric'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- affectation,
- articulateness,
- Barnumism,
- bedizenment,
- big talk,
- bluster,
- bombast,
- choice of words,
- command of language,
- command of words,
- composition,
- convolution,
- debating,
- declamation,
- demagogism,
- dialect,
- diction,
- effective style,
- elocution,
- eloquence,
- eloquent tongue,
- exaggeration,
- expression,
- expression of ideas,
- expressiveness,
- facundity,
- fashion,
- feeling for words,
- felicitousness,
- felicity,
- flashiness,
- flatulence,
- flatulency,
- forensics,
- form of speech,
- formulation,
- fulsomeness,
- fustian,
- garishness,
- gasconade,
- gaudiness,
- gift of expression,
- gift of gab,
- glibness,
- grace of expression,
- grammar,
- grandiloquence,
- grandioseness,
- grandiosity,
- graphicness,
- high-flown diction,
- highfalutin,
- homiletics,
- hot air,
- idiom,
- inflatedness,
- inflation,
- language,
- lecturing,
- lexiphanicism,
- literary style,
- locution,
- loftiness,
- long-windedness,
- luridness,
- magniloquence,
- manner,
- manner of speaking,
- mannerism,
- meaningfulness,
- mere rhetoric,
- meretriciousness,
- mode,
- mode of expression,
- oratory,
- orotundity,
- ostentation,
- ostentatious complexity,
- parlance,
- peculiarity,
- personal style,
- phrase,
- phraseology,
- phrasing,
- platform oratory,
- platitudinous ponderosity,
- polysyllabic profundity,
- pomposity,
- pompous prolixity,
- pompousness,
- pontification,
- pretension,
- pretentiousness,
- prolixity,
- prose run mad,
- public speaking,
- puffery,
- pyrotechnics,
- rabble-rousing,
- rant,
- rhapsody,
- rhetoricalness,
- rodomontade,
- sensationalism,
- sense of language,
- sententiousness,
- sesquipedality,
- showiness,
- silver tongue,
- slickness,
- smoothness,
- speaking,
- speech,
- speechcraft,
- speechification,
- speeching,
- speechmaking,
- stiltedness,
- strain,
- stump speaking,
- style,
- stylistic analysis,
- stylistics,
- swelling utterance,
- swollen phrase,
- swollenness,
- talk,
- tall talk,
- the grand style,
- the plain style,
- the sublime,
- tortuosity,
- tortuousness,
- trick,
- tumidity,
- tumidness,
- turgescence,
- turgidity,
- usage,
- use of words,
- usus loquendi,
- vein,
- verbiage,
- verbosity,
- vividness,
- way,
- windiness,
- wordage,
- wordcraft,
- wordiness,
- wording