1. relating to or concerned with the art of speaking or writing effectively
2. asked for effect or emphasis rather than to get an answer
Usage: used especially of questions
3. expressed in terms intended to persuade or impress but lacking substance
Usage: often disapproving

Examples

• The candidate’s rhetorical skills impressed the audience.
• She asked the rhetorical question ‘Who doesn’t want world peace?’
• His speech was full of rhetorical flourishes but offered no real solutions.
• The professor taught us various rhetorical devices used in persuasive writing.
• Don’t answer that—it was a rhetorical question.
• The politician’s promises seemed more rhetorical than genuine.
• Ancient Greeks valued rhetorical training for public speaking.