(n.) Choice of words for the expression of ideas; the construction, disposition, and application of words in discourse, with regard to clearness, accuracy, variety, etc.; mode of expression; language; as, the diction of Chaucer's poems.
Example Sentences:
(1) The prose rhythm and colloquial diction here work against exaggeration, but allow for humour.
(2) The enigmatic patience of the sentences, the pedantic syntax, the peculiar antiquity of the diction, the strange recessed distance of the writing, in which everything seems milky and sub-aqueous, just beyond reach – all of this gives Sebald his particular flavour, so that sometimes it seems that we are reading not a particular writer but an emanation of literature.
(3) If you ever feel tempted to say "status quo" or "cul de sac", for instance, Orwell will sneer at you for "pretentious diction".
(4) Now 86, Daddy – the 11th Duke of Marlborough - has the garbled, sticky plum crumble diction of the irredeemably posh.
(5) He turns his attention to today's male movie stars and their penchant for mumbling (Hopkins has always prided himself on his diction).
(6) Discriminant analyses, using both untransformed and range-corrected data made excellent post-dictions of group membership.
(7) Americans don't have passports, we don't meet many foreigners, and we think proper English diction is an indicator of condescension or homosexuality.
(8) The diction of the original tells us that its author was, broadly speaking, a northerner.
(9) It's a beautifully musical film all the way through, in fact, partly an effect of Katie Johnson's delivery as Mrs W : incredible gentle diction, all sweet bleats and trilly intonation.
(10) Only his co-host, Loyd Grossman, had a voice and diction to, if anything, rival Frost's own.
(11) This section was presented by Loyd Grossman, whose diction and presenting style were even more distinctive than Frost's.
(12) Nor could the chosen diction of the American have been further from the socially diagnostic wit of Jane Austen or the stuffed-pudding plenitude of the young Dickens.
(13) In one letter (to her parents), she raved about Michael Redgrave's Hamlet saying it made Olivier's 'beautiful diction, dramatic pauses, loud music and despairing cries sound like pure unadulterated ham'.
(14) Diction and fractures of resin teeth were more common problems in maxillae; cheek and lip biting was a more frequent postinsertion complication in the treatment of mandibles.
(15) Sebald's seemingly passive prose was in fact – to borrow Marianne Moore's memorable phrase – "diction galvanised against inertia".
(16) With the Instagram posts showing no sign of stopping we’ve come up with a short guide to the Chechen ruler’s dramatic diction to help you understand who the “dastardly villains” are; what threat they pose to “the nation that rose from its knees”.
(17) But I never really responded to the antique diction and syntax - it struck me at times as even older than the original.
(18) Twain would have been apoplectic at the presumption: one of the letters he included in his drafts, reprinted in the autobiography's first volume, is a rebuke to an editor who dared to alter the great man's diction in his essay on Joan of Arc .
(19) He takes his 19th-century Gothic diction from the Austrian writer Adalbert Stifter , and a fair amount of his obsessive extremism from the Austrian novelist Thomas Bernhard .
(20) The tennis player Annabel Croft, when meeting her genuinely homeless "buddy" David, said, with the immaculate diction of a woman regarding the drinks tray at a garden party: "I have been very nervous about who I was going to meet but I'm pleasantly surprised!"
Rhetoric
Definition:
(n.) The art of composition; especially, elegant composition in prose.
(n.) Oratory; the art of speaking with propriety, elegance, and force.
(n.) Hence, artificial eloquence; fine language or declamation without conviction or earnest feeling.
(n.) Fig. : The power of persuasion or attraction; that which allures or charms.
Example Sentences:
(1) Migrant voters are almost as numerous as current Ukip supporters but they are widely overlooked and risk being increasingly disaffected by mainstream politics and the fierce rhetoric around immigration caused partly by the rise of Ukip,” said Robert Ford from Manchester University, the report’s co-author.
(2) In a poll before the debate, 48% predicted that Merkel, who will become Europe's longest serving leader if re-elected on 22 September, would emerge as the winner of the US-style debate, while 26% favoured Steinbruck, a former finance minister who is known for his quick-wit and rhetorical skills, but sometimes comes across as arrogant.
(3) Federal judges who blocked the bans cited harsh rhetoric employed by Trump on the campaign trail , specifically a pledge to ban all Muslims from entering the US and support for giving priority to Christian refugees, as being reflective of the intent behind his travel ban.
(4) This paper employs a rhetorical form designed to clarify and sharpen the focus of the very special stance required--which must be painstakingly learned under careful supervision--in order to effectively tune in to communications coming from the unconscious of the patient.
(5) Neither assertion was strictly accurate, but Obama was on a rhetorical roll.
(6) In what appeared to be pointed criticism of increasingly firm rhetoric from Cameron on multinational tax engineering, Carr insisted tax avoidance "cannot be about morality – there are no absolutes".
(7) May’s rhetoric against the Labour leader appeared to have toughened significantly, underlining the Conservatives’ determination to exploit what they regard as Corbyn’s weaknesses.
(8) Similar tensions afflict the US political scene, where anti-immigrant and anti-trade rhetoric have been prominent from the start of the current presidential election round.
(9) Samoa will host the third international conference on small island developing states (Sids) from 1 September, and I want leaders from the 193 nations attending to rise above rhetoric and grandstanding, and move closer to binding international agreements on climate change.
(10) Politically speaking, that could generate some powerful questions, as families on the cliff-edge begin to digest politicians' rhetoric about hardworking families and ask themselves: "How did we get here?"
(11) The striking weakness of Clegg's thesis was what it left out in its attempt to carve out a position for restless party activists as their poll ratings dip (down to 14% according to ICM) as Miliband tones down his own anti-Lib Dem rhetoric to woo them.
(12) This is a chancellor who has produced a budget for hedge fund managers more than for small businesses.” Corbyn made a point of mocking some of the chancellor’s grand rhetoric of recent years.
(13) A solid first step would be to both materially and rhetorically support that mechanism,” said Catanzano of the International Rescue Committee.
(14) The prime minister is coming under increasing pressure from the heads of some of Britain's largest multinational corporations who have urged Cameron to stop "moralising" and rein in his rhetoric on tax avoidance ahead of a G8 summit next month.
(15) You can actually create, be a builder and you can make things.” Wozniak’s faith in the power of education is no empty rhetoric.
(16) This coercive style of rhetoric is one reason why so many people have stopped listening to what politicians have to say.
(17) "We have rhetorical pressure, which we are using, and we have the Seventh Fleet, which nobody wants to use, and in between our options are more constrained," he said.
(18) So we have futile rhetoric on immigration, but minimal discussion over how to reinvent politics in the digital age.
(19) The hawkish rhetoric by Iranians feeds the rhetoric of hawkish Republicans , and the front page of Kayhan” – a conservative Iranian paper – “reads like the ticker on Fox News,” he added.
(20) Many supporters are neither leftist, nor admirers of Syriza’s anti-capitalist rhetoric, but Greeks appalled by the catastrophic effects of policies that have left 1.5 million unemployed, 3 million facing poverty and the vast majority unable to pay their bills.