rhetorically
Americanadverb
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in a way that uses language for style or effect.
These essays discuss how the term participatory has been deployed rhetorically by a range of institutions.
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not expecting an answer, either because the answer is unknowable or because it is obvious.
I am not asking the question rhetorically or snidely.
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in way that uses language in an exaggerated way.
The realities of the global marketplace are quite apparent; they don't need to be rhetorically beaten to death.
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in a way that uses specialized literary language, such as figures of speech.
Some of the entries are concise, but most of them are verbally and rhetorically elaborate.
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in a way that uses language particularly effectively.
Her testimony was rhetorically strong, but scientifically weak.
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using words, especially in the absence of action.
He fails to demonstrate the validity of his claims, but merely asserts them rhetorically.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rhetorically
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.
The cunning, determined, rhetorically skillful Odysseus, long absent from his kingdom after a devastating war, becomes the devilishly clever Satan, cast down from his original home after the angelic civil war in heaven.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
"What led us to come here?" he asks rhetorically.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Graham was, rhetorically, almost pathetically in Trump’s thrall, heaping flattery onto a president who’d once posted Graham’s phone number online for mass harassment.
From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026
“Do you know many nanoseconds it takes,” Kavanagh asked rhetorically, “to make a decision between Milwaukee, Wisc., and Sacramento, Calif.?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2026
“Have you ever fallen asleep at the wheel and had to shake yourself awake?” she asks rhetorically.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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