How to Use rhetorical in a Sentence

rhetorical

adjective
Definition of rhetoricalnext
Synonyms for rhetoricalnext
  • My question was rhetorical. I wasn't really expecting an answer.
  • The two are neck and neck in a race to the rhetorical middle.
    — Faith Bottum, WSJ, 26 Sep. 2022
  • Downes asks at one point, and the question is meant to be rhetorical.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 13 Oct. 2023
  • Many of us are getting stuck in the same rhetorical cul-de-sacs.
    — W. Kamau Bell, CNN, 2 May 2021
  • Dougherty has become a star of the strike for her blunt rhetorical style.
    — Gene Maddaus, Variety, 27 May 2023
  • Some of those threats were intended to be rhetorical, at least in the short run.
    — Washington Post, 13 June 2019
  • In Wolfish, the question is dropped like a generic, rhetorical call to action, and then Berry moves on.
    — Colin Dickey, The New Republic, 31 Mar. 2023
  • The best part about it, though, is that the complaints are required to be rhetorical, Curvey says.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 9 June 2021
  • For now, at least, Locsin doesn’t feel obliged to hold his rhetorical fire.
    — Joel Gehrke, Washington Examiner, 3 May 2021
  • To argue on this rhetorical ground is to disable the argument from the start.
    — Merve Emre, The New Yorker, 11 July 2023
  • To answer the rhetorical question, the answer is no, no there isn't.
    — Shelby Stewart, Houston Chronicle, 4 Aug. 2020
  • As Mueller spoke, politicos and others sought the rhetorical upper hand on what to make of it all.
    — Ronald J. Hansen, azcentral, 24 July 2019
  • Schaake’s speech was a hairpin turn in rhetorical space.
    — Nick Romeo, The New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2020
  • There is more than a kernel of truth in this rhetorical excess.
    — Tom Simonite, WIRED, 10 June 2019
  • All of which means that, in the clash of rhetorical language and the technical kind, the rhetoric may turn out to be more important.
    — The Economist, 12 Dec. 2019
  • But what about Netanyahu, a man in thrall to the hard right and not exactly known for rhetorical restraint?
    — Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 21 Jan. 2024
  • Apples in a barrel for the Dems, the lie that Vance and Trump have been spinning quickly got lost in the rhetorical shuffle.
    — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 1 Oct. 2024
  • For many, the question of whether screening Rust was even a good idea stands purely rhetorical.
    — Nick Newman, Vulture, 20 Nov. 2024
  • Then Freud makes one of the sly rhetorical turns by which his work is marked and that give it its special potency.
    — Janet Malcolm, The New York Review of Books, 24 Mar. 2020
  • The rhetorical bundle of arguments that the system is corrupt can be captured by both the left and the right.
    — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2024
  • Lloyd knew the answer to that rhetorical question, but there was more on Lloyd’s mind than money.
    — Josh Newman, The Salt Lake Tribune, 2 Dec. 2021
  • But this also presents a unique rhetorical problem: No one cares about the future when there are so many problems in the here and now.
    — Liza Featherstone, The New Republic, 12 July 2023
  • Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine is entering its sixth week, and the past few days have seen a rhetorical shift in Vladimir Putin’s goals.
    — Garry Kasparov, WSJ, 3 Apr. 2022
  • So, Macron didn’t seem to have much patience for the other swirling rhetorical storm that Truss seemed to be conjuring.
    — David A. Andelman, CNN, 26 Aug. 2022
  • Brandy, the cause of no ruining, knows it’s a rhetorical question.
    — Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Nov. 2021
  • That’s supposed to be a rhetorical question to tease out your true favorite.
    — Ian McNulty | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, 21 Dec. 2020
  • The optics are not good Matt: Another rhetorical sleight of hand.
    — Adam Feuerstein and Matthew Herper, STAT, 31 July 2023
  • To be fair, even Kahn evinced some skepticism about his windy, rhetorical flights.
    — Alex Beam, WSJ, 31 Dec. 2020
  • Chief Justice John Roberts, known for his rhetorical prowess, has long lamented that the media must summarize and translate the court’s lengthy opinions for the public.
    — Jill Barton, The Conversation, 24 Jan. 2025
  • Clearly this was not the rhetorical strategy that Osit found most resonant for him, so maybe that’s the next step now that this conversational avenue has been established.
    — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Jan. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rhetorical.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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