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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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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
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rhetoric
After all, the finger-pointing by both Republicans and Democrats over the dangers of political rhetoric has been going on nonstop since Kirk’s death.
—
Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Mickelson appeared to be keeping a close eye on the rhetoric that has been used in the days since Kirk’s killing.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Monday's meeting is now seen as a critical test of whether rhetoric can be transformed into coordinated military action.
—Amir Daftari, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Sep. 2025
While Venezuela’s leaders accuse the United States and its allies of preparing for aggression, Washington has focused its rhetoric on crime and drug trafficking.
—Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 15 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rhetoric
Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Mickelson appeared to be keeping a close eye on the rhetoric that has been used in the days since Kirk’s killing.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Monday's meeting is now seen as a critical test of whether rhetoric can be transformed into coordinated military action.
—Amir Daftari, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Sep. 2025
While Venezuela’s leaders accuse the United States and its allies of preparing for aggression, Washington has focused its rhetoric on crime and drug trafficking.
—Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 15 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rhetoric
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rhetoric
Noun
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Tropical weather experts at Colorado State University (CSU) echo these predictions, saying overall atmospheric conditions, including wind patterns, will shift in a manner that supports a notable increase in activity.—
Julia Jacobo,
ABC News,
16 Sep. 2025
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Looking at individual share moves, wind energy developer Orsted shares fell more than 1% after the company revealed efforts to clinch new capital at a deep discount.—
Ryan Browne,Holly Ellyatt,
CNBC,
15 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The Pittsburgh Pirates’ right fielder was poetry on the diamond, a five-tool player who helped his team to two World Series championships but amazingly was a bit underrated at the time.—
Jim Alexander,
Oc Register,
13 Sep. 2025
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This deepening also has an index in the formal features of his poetry—the ambiguity of his pronouns, the firm particularity of his register of images—which teeters between the mundane and the epiphanic, and renders this imbalance itself into view.—
Elaine L. Wang
September 11,
Literary Hub,
11 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Every four years, we are told that this is the most important election in history, which is a lot of errant nonsense.—
Chris Stirewalt,
The Hill,
12 Sep. 2025
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This type of nonsense from [in-laws] is what wears on you over the years.—
Erin Clack,
PEOPLE,
11 Sep. 2025
Noun
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That is, with Venus and earth-like planets at habitable distances from their stars as well as gas giants orbiting at Jupiter-like distances (which in our solar system’s case is 5 astronomical units), or five times the average distance between the Earth and sun.—
Bruce Dorminey,
Forbes.com,
19 Sep. 2025
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Different regions of the country typically have different average gas prices.—
Washington Examiner Staff,
The Washington Examiner,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
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She’s typically associated with the singer-songwriter movement that became popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but much of her output can also be classified as rock, pop, and in some cases even jazz.—
Hugh McIntyre,
Forbes.com,
17 Sep. 2025
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Despite Black women’s outsized contributions to American popular music—from jazz and blues to R&B and hip-hop—their presence in executive and governance roles has remained disproportionately small.—
Kimberly Wilson,
Essence,
17 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Known for his extraordinary oratory skills, everyone who has been around Levy has a story to tell about his Marvisms and motivational speeches.—
Tim Graham,
New York Times,
1 Aug. 2025
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Her brand at the time was something like the Obama of the antipodes: a liberal media darling, icon of the global anti-Trump resistance, transitioning smoothly from lofty oratory to easygoing relatability.—
Andrew Marantz,
New Yorker,
9 June 2025
Noun
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Unconstrained, Iran’s nuclear program continued to expand as the anti-American bombast and Holocaust denial of the new Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made diplomacy much more difficult.—
Vali Nasr,
Foreign Affairs,
19 Aug. 2025
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For all his bombast online, for instance, Marcus has said that today’s chatbots are a legitimate breakthrough, just far from the breakthrough; for all of Altman’s petulance, OpenAI’s latest large reasoning models rely on new approaches not so dissimilar from Marcus’s own, decades-old ideas.—
Matteo Wong,
The Atlantic,
8 July 2025
Noun
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Freed of the architectural fustian of the Frick’s Gilded Age home, the art breathes anew, each painting in its own world rather than entwined with others as part of a decorative ensemble.—
Philip Kennicott,
Washington Post,
6 June 2023
Cite this Entry
“Rhetoric.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rhetoric. Accessed 20 Sep. 2025.
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