rhetorical
adjective
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Rhetorical Language vs. Rhetorical Questions
Rhetorical has several meanings which are close enough in meaning that they may easily cause confusion. It can refer to the subject of rhetoric ("the art of speaking or writing effectively") in a broad sense, and may also refer to that same subject in a somewhat deprecatory sense ("given to insincere or grandiloquent language"). But perhaps the most common use of rhetorical today is found in conjunction with question. A rhetorical question is not a question about the art of speaking effectively; it is a question that is asked for effect, rather than from a desire to know the answer. “Would it kill you to stop chewing your food with your mouth open?” is a rhetorical question.
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Examples of rhetorical in a Sentence
Bill Turque, Newsweek, 29 Nov. 1993
Clinton's acceptance speech evidenced some of the classical rhetorical devices such as paronomasia, or punning, and anaphora, or repetition of key words or phrases.
—Leo McManus, English Today, October 1993
"Take that river down there, for instance. It conforms pretty much to the map, doesn't it?" I assumed he was asking a rhetorical question and kept my mouth shut.
—Marshall Harrison, A Lonely Kind of War, 1989
… he [Thomas Wolfe] crammed his novels with lavish apostrophes to Life and Death and Loneliness and Sorrow, covering page after page with grandiose rhetorical flourishes … , pseudo-Homeric epithets … , wooden dialogue and pious homilies about "the brevity of our days."
—James Atlas, New York Times Book Review, 2 Dec. 1979
My question was rhetorical. I wasn't really expecting an answer.
you can skip over the rhetorical passages and still get the gist of the essay
The Editors, National Review, 4 Feb. 2025
Tump was hardly alone in trying to turn the crash to political advantage, but even by this president’s rhetorical measures, this was a shameful performance.
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 31 Jan. 2025
Clearly this was not the rhetorical strategy that Osit found most resonant for him, so maybe that’s the next step now that this conversational avenue has been established.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Jan. 2025
Chief Justice John Roberts, known for his rhetorical prowess, has long lamented that the media must summarize and translate the court’s lengthy opinions for the public.
—Jill Barton, The Conversation, 24 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Rhetorical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetorical. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
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rhetorical
adjective
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