Trivia Time

Which classic film directly examines the role of proper diction in society?

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diction

American  

[dik-shuhn] / ˈdɪk ʃən /

noun

1. style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words.

   good diction.

   Synonyms:

   language, usage

2. the accent, inflection, intonation, and speech-sound quality manifested by an individual speaker, usually judged in terms of prevailing standards of acceptability; enunciation.

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diction British  

/ ˈdɪkʃən /

noun

1. the choice and use of words in writing or speech

2. the manner of uttering or enunciating words and sounds; elocution

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diction Cultural  

1. The choice of words. Diction is effective when words are appropriate to an audience. A man might refer to his car as his “wheels” in casual conversation with a friend, but if he were writing an essay for a group of economists, he would write, “People base their decision to buy an automobile on the following considerations,” not “People base their decision to buy wheels on the following considerations.”

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Synonym Usage

Diction, phraseology, wording refer to the means and the manner of expressing ideas. Diction usually implies a high level of usage; it refers chiefly to the choice of words, their arrangement, and the force, accuracy, and distinction with which they are used: The speaker was distinguished for his excellent diction; poetic diction. Phraseology refers more to the manner of combining the words into related groups, and especially to the peculiar or distinctive manner in which certain technical, scientific, and professional ideas are expressed: legal phraseology. Wording refers to the exact words or phraseology used to convey thought: the wording of a will.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• dictional
  adjective
• dictionally
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of diction

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English diccion, from Late Latin dictiōn- (stem of dictiō ) “word,” Latin: “rhetorical delivery,” equivalent to dict(us) “said, spoken (past participle of dīcere ) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

Diction is the way you talk, that is, the way you enunciate or pronounce your words, and the words and phrases you choose to use. If you've seen the musical "My Fair Lady," you know the character Eliza Doolittle struggles with her diction as her mentor tries to teach her to become a lady. Because of her accent, she has the most difficult time properly pronouncing even the most simple phrases, but in the end, she succeeds in saying things like the key phrase, "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain."

Example Sentences

Elle Vosque, Catrin Feelings, Bones and Silllexa Diction were put through their paces one last time.

From BBC • Nov. 28, 2025

Diction harking back to a more genteel era.

From New York Times • Dec. 10, 2015

By the final, American set he sang Ives’s “The Things Our Fathers Loved” with straightforward ease, giving the music a kind of luminosity, without recourse to what I might term ­capital-D Diction.

From Washington Post • Dec. 11, 2014

To display the Excellence of Virgil's Style, Diction, and Versification, cannot be the Business of this Preface: Here again I must refer to my Notes.

From The Preface to the Aeneis of Virgil (1718) by Trapp, Joseph

They seemed to me full of fine Thought, and in a lofty Strain: but wanting Variety both of Mood and Diction for Odes—which are supposed to mean things to be chanted. 

From Letters of Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble (1871-1883) by Wright, William Aldis

Related Words

• eloquence
• fluency
• inflection
• intonation
• phrasing
• pronunciation
• wording