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
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
His most important tool, as a scientist and rhetorician, would be simplicity.
From Slate ● May 17, 2017
Here’s a man who – agreeing with the 17th-century rhetorician John Bulwer that gesture is “the palm and crown of eloquence” – really speaks with his hands.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 30, 2016
What Disraeli said of Gladstone was also true of Churchill: he was “a sophisticated rhetorician, inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity.”
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.
