1
as in wind
language that is impressive-sounding but not meaningful or sincere
the mayor's promise to fight drugs was just rhetoric, since there was no money in the city budget for a drug program
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2
as in poetry
the art or power of speaking or writing in a forceful and convincing way
great leaders have often been masters of rhetoric, which they have used for both good and ill
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of rhetoric
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the far-right National Front party who tapped into working class concerns over immigration and globalization and built a career on provocative rhetoric that many saw as racist and xenophobic, has died aged 96.
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Fox News, 7 Jan. 2025
Trump invites Canada, Greenland to join the US as states, vows to ‘protect and cherish’ them
Robby Soave and Niall Stanage react to Donald Trump’s rhetoric of acquiring Canada as the 51st state.
—The Hill, 7 Jan. 2025
Such research did not cause Donald Trump to change his views or rhetoric on immigrants during the campaign.
—Stuart Anderson, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025
Many Indigenous communities bristled at rhetoric around equality that was much louder than action.
—Sara Miller Llana, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for rhetoric 
Fox News, 7 Jan. 2025
Trump invites Canada, Greenland to join the US as states, vows to ‘protect and cherish’ them
Robby Soave and Niall Stanage react to Donald Trump’s rhetoric of acquiring Canada as the 51st state.
—The Hill, 7 Jan. 2025
Such research did not cause Donald Trump to change his views or rhetoric on immigrants during the campaign.
—Stuart Anderson, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025
Many Indigenous communities bristled at rhetoric around equality that was much louder than action.
—Sara Miller Llana, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for rhetoric
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rhetoric
Noun
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Los Angeles’ local TV stations saw a tremendous spike in news viewership last Tuesday, Jan. 7, as the city first came under siege from fierce Santa Ana winds, leading to the devastating fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and elsewhere.Michael Schneider, Variety, 14 Jan. 2025
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Concerns include cumulus clouds, thick clouds, and liftoff winds.Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 14 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Activities include an art workshop, open mic and poetry slam, artist talk, traditional African music and dance, and more.John Coffren, Baltimore Sun, 16 Jan. 2025
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Guided by the voice of Pulitzer-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the solo work uses history, memory and poetry.Karu F. Daniels, New York Daily News, 16 Jan. 2025
Noun
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By contrast, this rising international elite is creating something very different: a society in which superstition defeats reason and logic, transparency vanishes, and the nefarious actions of political leaders are obscured behind a cloud of nonsense and distraction.Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 7 Jan. 2025
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That ain't the show, the show is the nonsense that's happening in between John Wick.Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 7 Jan. 2025
Noun
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This core component contains a gas such as deuterium and tritium that is encased in chemical explosives.Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 9 Jan. 2025
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The same law also bans price boosts for gas, transportation, food, emergency supplies, medical supplies and building supplies.Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2025
Noun
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John Coltrane Eligible since: 1986 The Rock Hall last nominated a pure jazz artist when Miles Davis was inducted in 2006.Troy Smith, Axios, 7 Jan. 2025
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Louis Armstrong, the legendary jazz musician, had once served as King Zulu–in 1949.Javier Hasse, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
Noun
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One source of Trump’s instinctive, inimitable political talent is that, for him, oratory and advertisement are entirely coeval domains.Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2024
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He was not limited to a single playing field either in sports (baseball, basketball, and football) or the arts (acting, oratory, and singing).Thomas Doherty, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Oct. 2024
Noun
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These new movies offer a new kind of spectacle, one that’s not just a matter of audiovisual bombast but that inheres in cinematic form, becomes part of a film’s narrative architecture, and creates a distinctive psychological relationship with viewers.Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2024
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But from the outside, such moments can get drowned out by the daily buffet of Trump’s outrageous bombast.Philip Eliott / Detroit, TIME, 4 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Much of that singularity was centered in McCarthy’s prose, which ricocheted—sometimes gracefully, sometimes jarringly—between gruff matter-of-factness and soaring, biblical grandiloquence.Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 13 June 2023
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Several of them can fly, and all have at least a touch of grandiloquence to them.Michael Nordine, Variety, 11 Aug. 2022
Thesaurus Entries Near rhetoric
Cite this Entry
“Rhetoric.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rhetoric. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
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