Thesaurus
rhetorical
adjective
Synonyms and Antonyms of RHETORICAL
1
marked by the use of impressive-sounding but mostly meaningless words and phrases <you can skip over the rhetorical passages and still get the gist of the essay>
Related Words bloated, elevated, florid, flowery, grandiose, highfalutin (also hifalutin), high-flown, high-sounding, inflated, lofty, ornate, pompous, pontifical, pretentious, stilted, tumid, turgid; overdone, verbose, wordy
Near Antonyms eloquent, well-spoken; bald, direct, matter-of-fact, plain, plainspoken, simple, stark, straightforward, unadorned, unaffected, unpretentious
Antonyms unrhetorical
2
full of fine words and fancy expressions <the new governor delivered a long rhetorical speech about our state's bright future but laid out no specific programs for ensuring it>
Synonyms aureate, florid, grandiloquent, highfalutin (also hifalutin), high-flown, high-sounding, magnific, ornate, purple, rhetorical (also rhetoric)
Related Words affected, bloated, fancy-pants, grandiose, inflated, pompous, pretentious, stilted; excessive, flattering, fulsome; boastful, bombastic; elevated, eloquent, lofty; bookish, inkhorn, learned
Near Antonyms prosaic, unpoetic; bald, direct, lean, matter-of-fact, plain, plainspoken, simple, spare, stark, straightforward, unadorned; natural, unaffected, unpretentious
3
of or relating to words or language <the next war that those two nations fight won't be rhetorical—it will be with bombs and bullets>
Related Words communicative, conversational
Variants of RHETORICAL
rhetorical also rhetoric
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