GC: n

S: Harvard (last access: 10 May 2026); UIS (last access: 10 May 2026).

N: 1. early 14c., rethorike, “the art of eloquence and persuasiveness in language, the art of using language to influence others,” from Old French retorike, rethorique (Modern French rhétorique) and directly from Latin rhetorice, from Greek rhētorikē tekhnē “art of an orator,” from rhētōr (genitive rhētoros) “speaker, master speaker, orator; artist of discourse; teacher of rhetoric,” especially (in the Attic official language), “orator in public.” This is related to rhesis “speech,” rhema “word, phrase, verb,” literally “that which is spoken” (from PIE *wre-tor-, from root *were- (3) “to speak;” see verb). Since classical times with a derogatory suggestion of “artificial oratory” as opposed to what is natural or unaffected, “ostentatious declamation.”

• rhetorical question: A question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer.
  French equivalents: question de pure forme, question oratoire.
  Spanish equivalent: pregunta retórica.
• rhetorical speech.
  French equivalents: discours creux, discours pompeux.
  Spanish equivalent: discurso retórico.

2. rhetoric, the principles of training communicators—those seeking to persuade or inform. In the 20th century it underwent a shift of emphasis from the speaker or writer to the auditor or reader. This article deals with rhetoric in both its traditional and its modern forms. For information on applications of rhetoric, see the articles broadcasting, communication, and propaganda.

3. The traditional rhetoric is limited to the insights and terms developed by rhetors, or rhetoricians, in the Classical period of ancient Greece, about the 5th century bc, to teach the art of public speaking to their fellow citizens in the Greek republics and, later, to the children of the wealthy under the Roman Empire. Public performance was regarded as the highest reach of education proper, and rhetoric was at the center of the educational process in western Europe for some 2,000 years. Institutio oratoria (before ad 96; “The Training of an Orator”), by the Roman rhetorician Quintilian, perhaps the most influential textbook on education ever written, was in fact a book about rhetoric. Inevitably, there were minor shifts of emphasis in so long a tradition, and for a long time even letter writing fell within the purview of rhetoric; but it has consistently maintained its emphasis upon creation, upon instructing those wishing to initiate communication with other people.

4. Modern rhetoric has shifted its focus to the auditor or reader. Literary criticism always borrowed from rhetoric—stylistic terms such as antithesis and metaphor were invented by Classical rhetoricians. When language became a subject of sustained scholarly concern, it was inevitable that scholars would turn back to Classical theories of rhetoric for help. But modern rhetoric is far more than a collection of terms. The perspective from which it views a text is different from that of other disciplines. History, philosophy, literary criticism, and the social sciences are apt to view a text as though it were a kind of map of the author’s mind on a particular subject. Rhetoricians, accustomed by their traditional discipline to look at communication from the communicator’s point of view, regard the text as the embodiment of an intention, not as a map. They know that that intention in its formulation is affected by its audience. They know also that the structure of a piece of discourse is a result of its intention. A concern for audience, for intention, and for structure is, then, the mark of modern rhetoric. It is as involved with the process of interpretation, or analysis, as it is with the process of creation, or genesis.

Rhetorical analysis is actually an analogue of traditional rhetorical genesis: both view a message through the situation of the auditor or reader as well as the situation of the speaker or writer. Both view the message as compounded of elements of time and place, motivation and response. An emphasis on the context automatically makes a rhetorician of the literary critic or interpreter and distinguishes that approach from the other kinds of verbal analysis. Critics who have insisted upon isolating, or abstracting, the literary text from the mind of its creator and from the milieu of its creation have found themselves unable to abstract it from the situation of its reader. Certain modern critics have joined with rhetoricians in denouncing the folly of all such attempts at abstraction. In interpreting any text—say a speech by Elizabeth I of England at Tilbury, Essex, or a play by the great Hindu poet of the 5th century, Kālidāsa—the rhetorician must imaginatively re-create the original situation of that text as well as endeavor to understand those factors that condition a present understanding.

5. Collocations:

• ADJ. empty, mere Her speech was just empty rhetoric. | militant, powerful, radical | government, official | nationalist, patriotic, political, revolutionary, sectarian
• VERB + RHETORIC adopt, engage in, resort to, use He was quite prepared to use militant rhetoric in attacking his opponents.
• PREP. behind/beneath the ~ Behind all the rhetoric, his relations with the army are dangerously poised. | despite the ~ Little has changed, despite the rhetoric about reform. | ~ about/concerning/on official rhetoric on the virtues of large families.

6. Cultural Interrelation: The most famous and foundational book on rhetoric is The Art of Rhetoric (4th century BCE) written by Aristotle, often considered the most important work on persuasion ever written, covering emotional, rational, and ethical arguments.

S: 1. Etymonline (last access: 10 May 2026); TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=RHETORICAL+QUESTION&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs, https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=RHETORICAL+SPEECH&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 10 May 2026); FCB. 2 to 4. EncBrit (last access: 10 May 2026). 5. OCD (last access: 10 May 2026). 6. GR (last access: 10 May 2026).

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CR: digital rhetoric, metaphor.