rhetorician

noun

rhet·​o·​ri·​cian ˌre-tə-ˈri-shən How to pronounce rhetorician (audio)
1
a
: a master or teacher of rhetoric
b
: orator
2
: an eloquent or grandiloquent writer or speaker

Examples of rhetorician in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
And, to be fair, inside the Fiserv Forum, the consummate rhetoricians were men of color—Byron Donalds, Wesley Hunt, Vivek Ramaswamy, and, the most fervent of all, Lorenzo Sewell, a pastor from Detroit. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 25 July 2024 Then, there’s the way the line underscores Harris’s skills as a rhetorician—which, after Biden’s lackluster debate performance, began to seem especially noteworthy. Elise Taylor, Vogue, 22 July 2024 Augustine was a first-rate rhetorician. Aaron Alexander Zubia, WSJ, 4 Nov. 2022 The responsible party leader appeared as a cruel tyrant, the inspiring rhetorician as a vicious demagogue. Corey Robin, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2021 Disability rhetorician Jay Dolmage has repeatedly invoked Hephaestus in his work. Autumn Wright, Wired, 16 Jan. 2021 While Simmons built alliances and Daniels kept up a drumbeat of virulently racist cartoons and editorials full of misinformation throughout the run-up to the election of November 8, 1898, Waddell was the rhetorician of this movement. David W. Blight, The New York Review of Books, 3 Nov. 2020 But the rhetorician in me sees insights in Ancient Greece. Aaron Duncan, The Conversation, 29 Oct. 2020 But Magufuli’s Covid-19 response is bringing to the fore another, often overlooked perspective: the president as politician and rhetorician. Dan Paget, Quartz Africa, 13 May 2020

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of rhetorician was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near rhetorician

Cite this Entry

“Rhetorician.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetorician. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on rhetorician

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!