rhetoric

English

Alternative forms

• rhetorick (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English rethorik, from Latin rēthoricus, rhētoricus, from Ancient Greek ῥητορῐκός (rhētorikós).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈtɒɹɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

rhetoric

1. Synonym of rhetorical.

Etymology 2

From Middle English rethorik, rhetoric, from Old French rhetorique, from Latin rhētorica, from Ancient Greek ῥητορική (rhētorikḗ), ellipsis of ῥητορικὴ τέχνη (rhētorikḕ tékhnē), from ῥητορικός (rhētorikós, “concerning public speech”), from ῥήτωρ (rhḗtōr, “public speaker”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛtəɹɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

rhetoric (countable and uncountable, plural rhetorics)

1. The art of using language, especially public speaking, as a means to persuade.
   • 2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 53:

     Transport Minister Marples, meanwhile, used arrogant rhetoric and showed his personal contempt for railways when confirming in Parliament that a third of the network was to be closed even before the survey results were known.

2. Meaningless language with an exaggerated style intended to impress.

   It’s only so much rhetoric.

Synonyms

• speechcraft
• wordcraft

Derived terms

• current-traditional rhetoric
• deep rhetoric
• public rhetoric
• rhetorical
• rhetorician

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *werh₁- (0 c, 16 e)

Collocations

Collocations

• Adjectives often applied to "rhetoric":
  • (by kind or area of application) political, legal, visual, classical, ancient
  • (by quality) violent, empty, inflammatory, hateful, heated, fiery, vitriolic, angry, overheated, extreme

Translations

art of using language for persuasion

• Afrikaans: retoriek sg, redekuns sg
• Albanian: retorikë (sq) f
• Arabic: بَلَاغَة f (balāḡa), فَصَاحَة f (faṣāḥa)
• Armenian: հռետորաբանություն (hṙetorabanutʻyun)
• Belarusian: красамо́ўства n (krasamóŭstva), рыто́рыка f (rytóryka)
• Bulgarian: красноре́чие (bg) n (krasnoréčie), красноречи́вост f (krasnorečívost), рито́рика (bg) f (ritórika)
• Catalan: retòrica (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 修辭／修辞 (zh) (xiūcí), 修辭學／修辞学 (zh) (xiūcíxué)

• Czech: řečnictví n, rétorika (cs) f, výřečnost (cs) f
• Danish: retorik c
• Dutch: redekunde f, retorica (nl) f, retoriek (nl) f
• Esperanto: retoriko
• Estonian: retoorika
• Faroese: tungusnild f, retorikkur m
• Finnish: puhetaito (fi), retoriikka (fi)
• French: rhétorique (fr) f, discours (fr) m
• Galician: retórica (gl) f
• Georgian: რიტორიკა (riṭoriḳa)
• German: Rhetorik (de) f, Redekunst (de) f
• Greek: ρητορική (el) f (ritorikí)

  Ancient: ῥητορική f (rhētorikḗ)

• Hebrew: רֶטוֹרִיקָה (he) f (retórika)
• Hindi: वाक्पटुता f (vākpaṭutā), शब्दाडम्बर (hi) m (śabdāḍambar), वक्रपटुता f (vakrapṭutā)
• Hungarian: szónoklattan (hu), retorika (hu)
• Indonesian: retorika (id)
• Irish: reitric f, roscaireacht f
• Italian: retorica (it) f
• Japanese: 修辞学 (ja) (しゅうじがく, shūjigaku)
• Kazakh: шешендік (şeşendık), риторика (ritorika)
• Korean: 수사학(修辭學) (ko) (susahak), 미사여구(美辭麗句) (ko) (misayeogu)
• Lao: ວາທະສາດ (wā tha sāt)
• Latvian: retorika f
• Lithuanian: retorika f
• Macedonian: реторика f (retorika), речитост f (rečitost), красноречивост f (krasnorečivost)
• Malay: ريتوريک, retorik (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: retorikk (no) m

• Old Norse: málsnildarlist f
• Persian: بلاغت (fa) (balâğat), فصاحت (fa) (fasâhat)
• Polish: retoryka (pl) f
• Portuguese: retórica (pt) f
• Romanian: retorică (ro) f
• Russian: красноре́чие (ru) n (krasnoréčije), красноба́йство (ru) n (krasnobájstvo), рито́рика (ru) f (ritórika)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рето̀рика f, го̀во̄рнӣштво n, рѐчито̄ст f, рјѐчито̄ст f, краснорѐчиво̄ст f, краснорјѐчиво̄ст f

  Roman: retòrika (sh) f, gòvōrnīštvo (sh) n, rèčitōst f, rjèčitōst (sh) f, krasnorèčivōst f, krasnorjèčivōst (sh) f

• Slovak: rečníctvo n, rétorika f, výrečnosť f
• Slovene: govorništvo (sl) n, retorika (sl) f
• Spanish: retórica (es) f
• Swedish: retorik (sv) c
• Tagalog: sayusay
• Tajik: балоғат (baloġat), фасоҳат (fasohat)
• Thai: วาทศิลป์ (th) (waa-tá-sǐn), วาทศาสตร์ (th) (waa-tá-sàat)
• Turkish: retorik (tr), belagat (tr)
• Ukrainian: красномо́вство n (krasnomóvstvo), красномо́вність f (krasnomóvnistʹ), рито́рика f (rytóryka)
• Urdu: بَلاغَت f (balāġat)
• Vietnamese: tu từ học (vi)

meaningless language

• Belarusian: шматсло́ўнасць f (šmatslóŭnascʹ), шматсло́ўе n (šmatslóŭje), пустасло́ўе n (pustaslóŭje), словаблу́дства n (slovablúdstva)
• Bulgarian: многосло́вие (bg) n (mnogoslóvie)
• Catalan: retòrica (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 強詞奪理／强词夺理 (zh) (qiángcíduólǐ)

• Czech: rétorika (cs) f, floskule (cs) f
• Danish: retorik c, kancellistil c
• Finnish: retoriikka (fi)
• French: rhétorique (fr) f
• Galician: retórica (gl) f
• Irish: reitric f, roscaireacht f
• Portuguese: retórica (pt) f
• Russian: пустосло́вие (ru) n (pustoslóvije), фразёрство n (frazjórstvo), словоблу́дие (ru) n (slovoblúdije), пустозво́нство (ru) n (pustozvónstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рето̀рика f

  Roman: retòrika (sh) f

• Ukrainian: багатослі́вність (uk) f (bahatoslívnistʹ), марнослі́в'я n (marnoslívʺja), марносло́вство n (marnoslóvstvo), пустослі́в'я n (pustoslívʺja), словоблу́дство n (slovoblúdstvo), словоблу́ддя n (slovoblúddja)

See also

• preterition
• Appendix:Glossary of rhetoric

Anagrams

• torchier