Rhetoric
['retərɪk] or ['rɛtərɪk]
Definition
(noun.) study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking).
(noun.) using language effectively to please or persuade.
Checker: Maisie--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The art of composition; especially, elegant composition in prose.
(n.) Oratory; the art of speaking with propriety, elegance, and force.
(n.) Hence, artificial eloquence; fine language or declamation without conviction or earnest feeling.
(n.) Fig. : The power of persuasion or attraction; that which allures or charms.
Checker: Paulette
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Art of composition.[2]. Oratory, elocution, eloquence, science of oratory.[3]. Declamation, artificial eloquence.
Edited by Enrico
Definition
n. the theory and practice of eloquence whether spoken or written the whole art of using language so as to persuade others: the art of speaking with propriety elegance and force: artificial oratory: declamation.—adj. Rhetor′ical pertaining to rhetoric: oratorical.—adv. Rhetor′ically.—v.i. Rhetor′icāte (obs.) to act the orator.—ns. Rhetoricā′tion (obs.); Rhetori′cian one who teaches the art of rhetoric: an orator.—v.i. Rhet′orise to play the orator.
Typed by Aileen
Unserious Contents or Definition
Language in a dress suit.
Edited by Barton
Examples
- Germania was deliberately intoxicated, she was systematically kept drunk, with this sort of patriotic rhetoric. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Just at this time, Pierre Abelard, who had already made himself widely famous as a rhetorician, came to found a school of rhetoric in Paris. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Here was begun the copying of manuscripts, and the preparation of compendiums treating of gramma r, dialectic, rhetoric, arithmetic, astronomy, music, and geometry. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Dramatic and lyric poetry, like every other branch of Greek literature, was falling under the power of rhetoric. Plato. The Republic.
- Union and force and rhetoric will do much; and if men say that they cannot prevail over the gods, still how do we know that there are gods? Plato. The Republic.
- For many a bomb has exploded into rhetoric. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- To him our schools are also indebted for the method of teaching foreign languages b y declensions, conjugations, vocabularies, formal rhetoric and annotations. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- For here is this nation which sixteen years ago vibrated ecstatically to that magic word Prosperity; to-day statistical rhetoric about size induces little but excessive boredom. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Both, indeed, gave themselves to some science--the Epicureans to physics, the Stoics to logic and rhetoric--but only as a means to an end. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- As the demand increased, the school, both of philosophy and rhetoric, became stationary, first in Athens, and afterwards in several other cities. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Editor: Mary