Standard Lemma guide

rhetorician

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌɹɛt.əˈɹɪ.ʃən/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: R EH2 T ER0 IH1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An expert or student of rhetoric.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Themistocles was a rhetorician.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An orator or eloquent public speaker.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a person who delivers a speech or oration

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: orator, speechmaker, public speaker, speechifier

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: speaker, talker, utterer, verbalizer, verbaliser

Narrower terms: eulogist, panegyrist, elocutionist, haranguer, spellbinder, tub-thumper, Burke, Edmund Burke, Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Tully, Demosthenes, Henry, Patrick Henry, Isocrates

History

Etymology

From Middle English rethoricien, from Old French retoricien; equivalent to rhetoric + -ian.

Across languages

Translations

9 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: հռետոր (hṙetor) — expert or student of rhetoric
  • Ancient Greek: ῥήτωρ (rhḗtōr) — expert or student of rhetoric
  • Latin: hrethor — expert or student of rhetoric
  • Latin: rhetor — expert or student of rhetoric
  • Russian: ритор (ritor) — expert or student of rhetoric
  • Armenian: հռետոր (hṙetor) — orator or eloquent public speaker
  • Greek: ρήτορας (rítoras) — orator or eloquent public speaker
  • Ancient Greek: ῥήτωρ (rhḗtōr) — orator or eloquent public speaker
  • Russian: ритор (ritor) — orator or eloquent public speaker