rhetorical

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rethorical, also rethorycal,^[2][1] formed on from Latin rhētoricus (“rhetorical”) with the suffix -al,^[3][4][5][6] or else from English rhetoric + -al.^[2][1] The Latin adjective is from Ancient Greek ῥητορικός (rhētorikós, “oratorical; skilled in speaking”), from ῥήτωρ (rhḗtōr, “speaker, orator”).^[2][6][1] The OED compares rhetorical, recorded before 1506.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Expressed so as to persuade or impress: 1447, in Osbern Bokenham's Lives of Saints.^[3] Etymonline gives the first sense as "eloquent, according to the principles of rhetoric", from the mid-15th century,^[2] and the OED records "eloquent, elegant" from about 1450 to 1594.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense "of or relating to the art of rhetoric" is recorded from 1530, in Palsgrave.^[3][2] In later use the word often implied artificial, extravagant or insincere language, as opposed to plain statement.^[2][3][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "pertaining to rhetorick; oratorial; figurative".^[7] From before 1645 it was used of people given to rhetorical figures,^[3] and since 1728 of the rhythm of prose as distinct from verse.^[3] The rhetorical question, asked only for effect and not to get an answer, is recorded from before 1686;^[3] Etymonline dates it to the 1670s.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1447 – expressed to persuade or impress.^[3]
• c. 1450 – eloquent, elegant (obsolete after 1594).^[3]
• 1530 – relating to the art of rhetoric.^[3][2]
• before 1645 – of a person, using rhetorical figures.^[3]
• before 1686 – of a question, asked only for effect.^[3]
• 1728 – of the rhythm of prose.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or concerned with rhetoric.^[4][8][3]
2. Aimed at effect or style rather than content; grandiloquent or bombastic: His rhetorical flourishes hid a lack of facts.^[8][3]
3. Of a question, asked to make a point or for effect rather than to get an answer.^[3][1]
4. (obsolete, c. 1450–1594) Eloquent; elegantly expressed.^[3][5]

Word family

• rhetorically
• nonrhetorical
• unrhetorical
• rhetorical question

Related words

• rhetoric
• rhetorician
• rhetor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins