noun
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a teacher of the art of rhetoric
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a stylish or eloquent writer or speaker
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a person whose speech is pompous or extravagant
Etymology
Origin of rhetorician
1375–1425; late Middle English rethoricien < Middle French rethorique rhetoric + -ien -ian
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In conversation with sociologist and Hamilton University President Stephen Pepper, Obama, ever the master rhetorician, said:
From Salon • Oct. 18, 2025
Johnson the undergraduate classicist, Eton rhetorician and middlebrow biographer was fond of making quotations, stitching together attitudes and throwing out highfalutin references to fascinate and flatter down-home audiences.
From Washington Post • Jul. 8, 2022
But that’s not to say that this doubting 1956 novel should be completely separated from the rhetorician, who spoke with such clarity and assurance at the Cambridge Union in 1965.
From The Guardian • Feb. 19, 2019
Franklin was a gifted rhetorician and singer, and he prospered as the pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 16, 2018
Aristotle said that the basic job of the rhetorician was to “discover the best available means of persuasion.”
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
