| 释义 |
rhetorical, a.|rɪˈtɒrɪkəl|
Forms: as in prec.
[f. L. rhētoric-us: see prec. and -ical.]
1.
†a. Eloquent, or eloquently expressed. Obs.
b. Expressed in terms calculated to persuade; hence (often in depreciatory use), composed or expressed in artificial or extravagant language; of the nature of mere rhetoric (as opposed to sober statement or argument).
1476in Antiq. Rep. (1808) II. 385 A Colacyon made by Metre in Rhetorical Terms. 1509Barclay Shyp Folys (1570) 222 Other with their wordes hye and retoricall Their sentences paynt. 1554Coverdale Hope of Faithful Pref., If one should barely, and wyth oute all rhetorical amplificacions, but rehearce only the great pompe..[etc.] of myghtye men and rulers. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. iv. (Arb.) 24 It [sc. metrical speech] is beside a maner of vtterance more eloquent and rethoricall then the ordinarie prose. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage viii. i. (1614) 719 But easier it was for him, with a Rhetoricall flourish..to dash this opinion out of countenance. a1660Hammond Wks. (1684) IV. 564 A degree of stupidity..that neither the iniquity of Sodom,..nor the Rhetoricall'st Phrase almost in the very Scripture can express. 1783Ld. Hailes Antiq. Chr. Ch. iv. 127 There is no rhetorical exaggeration in this passage of Josephus. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xvii. 163 If these words had been spoken by some easy, self-indulgent exhorter, from whose mouth they might have come merely as pious and rhetorical flourish. 1869Buckle Civiliz. III. v. 347 The facts..were more intended to persuade than to prove. They were rather rhetorical than logical.
c. Applied to the rhythm of prose as distinguished from metrical rhythm.
1727–38Chambers Cycl. s.v. Numbers, Rhetorical, or prosaic Numbers, are a sort of simple unaffected harmony, less glaring than that of verse. 1832Encycl. Amer. XI. 591 Rhetorical rhythm is satisfied with a pleasing cadence of syllables.
d. rhetorical accent: (see quots.).
1727–38Chambers Cycl. s.v. Accent, The rhetorical Accents [in Hebrew] are said to be Euphonic; inasmuch as they tend to make the pronunciation more sweet and agreeable. 1866Chamb. Encycl. VIII. 243/1 There is also an irregular or rhetorical accent in music called emphasis.
e. rhetorical question: (see quots.).
1843T. K. Arnold Latin Prose Comp. §442 Non is often used without ne in vehement questions, especially, of course, questions of appeal, or, as Reisig calls them, rhetorical questions. 1884Bradley's Aids to Lat. Prose §150 Questions that do not require an answer, but are only put in the form of a question in order to produce a greater effect,..are called rhetorical questions.
2. Of, belonging to, concerned with, or comprised in the art of rhetoric.
1530Palsgr. 322/2 Rethoricall, belongynge to rethoricke, rethoricque. 1533Frith Answ. More E 4, I expounde my minde by a rethoricall correction and saye, Imo recordationem sacrificij. 1608D. T. Ess. Pol. & Mor. 27 b, Such is the force of the Rhetoricall Enthymems. 1657North's Plutarch, Add. Lives (1676) 39 [Charlemagne] was instructed in the Rhetorical, Dialectical, and Astrological Arts. 1791Mackintosh Vind. Gallicæ Wks. 1846 III. 77 It would have been quoted by Quintilian as a splendid model of rhetorical common-place. 1837Hallam Lit. Eur. I. 3 The rhetorical works of Cicero and Quintilian. 1871R. F. Weymouth Euphuism 13 Irony or climax or hyperbole or any other rhetorical figure.
3. Of persons: Given to the use of rhetoric.
1651H. More Enthus. Tri. (1712) 18 Melancholy, as well as Wine, makes a man Rhetorical or Poetical. 1656Blount Glossogr., Rhetorical, skilful in Rhetorick, that speaks eloquently. 1882Farrar Early Chr. I. 406 note, St. Paul is often rhetorical, i.e. he writes with a passion which finds natural expression in the most forcible figures of speech. |