English > rhetorical: 2 senses > adjective 2| Meaning | Given to rhetoric, emphasizing style at the expense of thought. |
|---|
| Example | "mere rhetorical frippery" |
|---|
| Narrower | bombastic, declamatory, large, orotund, tumid, turgid | ostentatiously lofty in style |
|---|
| empurpled, over-embellished, purple | excessively elaborate or showily expressed |
| flowery, ornate | marked by elaborate rhetoric and elaborated with decorative details |
| forensic | Of, relating to, or used in public debate or argument |
| grandiloquent, magniloquent, tall | lofty in style |
| oratorical | characteristic of an orator or oratory |
| poetic, poetical | characteristic of or befitting poetry |
| stylistic | Of or relating to style (especially in the use of language) |
| See also | fancy | not plain |
|---|
| figurative, nonliteral | (used of the meanings of words or text) not literal |
| formal | (of spoken and written language) adhering to traditional standards of correctness and without casual, contracted, and colloquial forms |
| Opposite | unrhetorical | not rhetorical |
|---|
| Spanish | retórico |
|---|
| Catalan | retòric |
|---|
| Nouns | rhetoric | study of the technique and rules for using language effectively (especially in public speaking) |
|---|
| Adverbs | rhetorically | in a rhetorical manner |
|---|
