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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Related Words

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

• 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

Example Sentences

The quality of Ms. Stevenson’s voice is like crystal under velvet, clear-edged yet somehow soft, and her diction is as crisp as a fresh green apple.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 2026

An American Shakespearean who can hold his own with the Brits, he combines mellifluous diction with muscular imagination.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 17, 2026

Wilson Follett, the author of “Modern American Usage,” complained about its “extreme tolerance of crude neologisms and of shabby diction generally.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 14, 2025

Reviewer David Kipen celebrated Wallace’s “stupendously high-toned vocabulary and gleeful low-comedy diction, coupled with a sense of syntax so elongated that he can seem to go for days without surfacing.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2025

Clean, polite, nice voice, good diction, a pretty decent-looking fellow, with a very disarming smile—and in the beginning he smiled quite a lot.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

Related Words

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