RHETORIC Synonyms: 57 Similar and Opposite Words

rhetoric

noun

ˈre-tə-rik

Definition of rhetoric

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

Relevance

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

inarticulateness

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of rhetoric Leaders elected on security agendas, such as Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and Ecuador’s Noboa, will likely intensify their hardline rhetoric and policies. — Dan Restrepo, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2026 What’s more scary than being a lead international correspondent at a time of multiple brutal wars and violent online rhetoric? — Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2026 Such rhetoric has contributed to the conditions under which Eritrea might decide to support Ethiopian armed groups now. — Alemayehu Fentaw Weldemariam, The Conversation, 29 Sep. 2026 In stark contrast to his rhetoric, however, the CTP shortchanges the region’s transit at the expense of both maintaining and expanding the existing system while continuing to prioritize highway expansion. — Brian O'Malley, Baltimore Sun, 28 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for rhetoric

Recent Examples of Synonyms for rhetoric

Noun

Gusty winds are set to begin Friday as California’s forecast shows a rapid pressure change that will drop daily high temperatures from the 90s earlier this week down into the 70s or cooler through early next week.

— Rosalio Ahumada, Sacbee.com, 9 Oct. 2026
The hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, is moving to the northeast at 13 mph.

— MIAMI HERALD HURRICANE BOT, Miami Herald, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of wind

Noun

There are novels that are all just poetry and emotion and themes, in which nothing happens.

— Max Gao, Variety, 4 Oct. 2026
The shop carries a small but curated selection from around the world focusing on topics like art, design, theory, hybrid works, fiction and poetry.

— Noelle Alviz-Gransee, Kansas City Star, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of poetry

Noun

Same goes for Chock Chapple (6), because life’s too short to be typing that nonsense in a search field.

— Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 30 Sep. 2026
What Trump is serving up is precisely the kind of paternalistic nonsense that women have fought against for the past century, now applied to nation states.

— Rachel Marsden, Hartford Courant, 25 Sep. 2026

Definition of nonsense

Noun

In fact, Ferrer first worked as a jazz drummer before moving into visual arts after discovering Surrealist artists and writers during a 1954 trip to Paris.

— Devorah Lauter, ARTnews.com, 30 Sep. 2026
Echoes of that ensemble’s style can be heard in this group, which adds a conga player to a standard jazz foursome.

— Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 30 Sep. 2026

Definition of jazz

Noun

All the bombast and charisma of the music and the persona were made to feel depressingly small.

— Jeff Weiss, HollywoodReporter, 1 Sep. 2026
The problem with the abstract expressionists’ relentless courting of the sublime was that the process of distillation produced too much bombast.

— Sebastian Smee, The Atlantic, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of bombast

Noun

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
Several of them can fly, and all have at least a touch of grandiloquence to them.

— Michael Nordine, Variety, 11 Aug. 2022

Definition of grandiloquence

Browse Nearby Words

rhapsody

rhetoric

rhetorical

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Style

“Rhetoric.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rhetoric. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of rhetoric

noun

Example Sentences

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