rhetoric

/ˈrɛdərɪk/

/ˈrɛtɔrɪk/

Other forms: rhetorics

Rhetoric is speaking or writing that's intended to persuade. If your goal is to write editorial columns for the New York Times, you should work on your rhetoric.

Rhetoric comes from the Greek meaning "speaker" and is used for the art of persuasive speaking or writing. When people listened eagerly to long speeches and studied them in school, rhetoric was generally used positively; now it is often a negative term, implying artfulness over real content. If someone gives a clever speech but doesn't really address the problem, you might say, "That's just a lot of rhetoric."

Definitions of rhetoric

1. noun

   study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking)
   type of:

   literary study

   the humanistic study of literature
2. noun

   using language effectively to please or persuade
   type of:

   expressive style, style

   a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period
3. noun

   high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation
   synonyms: grandiloquence, grandiosity, magniloquence, ornateness

   types:

   flourish

   a display of ornamental speech or language

   blah, bombast, claptrap, fustian, rant

   pompous or pretentious talk or writing

   type of:

   expressive style, style

   a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period
4. noun

   loud and confused and empty talk
   “mere rhetoric”

   synonyms: empty talk, empty words, hot air, palaver

   type of:

   bunk, hokum, meaninglessness, nonsense, nonsensicality

   a message that seems to convey no meaning