Rhetorical

How to spell rhetorical

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce rhetorical

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rhetorical mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to the art of effective or persuasive speaking and writing.
2. adjectiveDescribing a question asked for effect, not to get an actual answer.

Rhetorical in a sentence

• The politician used every rhetorical trick to win over the undecided voters.

• His rhetorical question needed no reply, since everyone already knew the answer.

• Her essay was praised for its clear argument and polished rhetorical style.

• She paused after the rhetorical question and let the silence make her point.

Where does rhetorical come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek rhetorikos, meaning 'concerning a public speaker', which was built on rhetor, the word for an orator or master of speech. Behind rhetor stood rhema, simply meaning 'a word' or 'a saying', so at its heart the term is about the craft of choosing words to move an audience. It passed into Latin as rhetoricus and reached English through Old French and Latin scholarship in the late 1400s, when the formal study of persuasive speaking was a central part of education. The tricky opening 'rh' is a faithful copy of the Greek letter rho followed by a rough breathing, and it survives in a whole family of learned borrowings such as 'rhythm', 'rhyme' and 'rhinoceros'. Remembering that the 'h' is silent but always present, sitting just after the 'r', is the key to spelling it correctly.

How the word is built

• rhetor- (Greek rhetor: public speaker, orator)
• -ic (adjective)
• -al (adjective)