{
    "term": "rhetoric",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "speech or writing that is intended to influence people, but that is not completely honest or sincere",
            "labels": "(formal, often disapproving)",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "the rhetoric of political slogans"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Her speech was just empty rhetoric."
                },
                {
                    "text": "His speech was dismissed as mere rhetoric by the opposition."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Behind all the rhetoric, his relations with the army are tense."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He was prepared to use militant rhetoric in attacking his opponents."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Little has changed, despite the rhetoric about reform."
                },
                {
                    "text": "official rhetoric on the virtues of large families"
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["empty", "mere", "fiery"],
                "verb + rhetoric": ["adopt", "employ", "engage in"],
                "preposition": [
                    "behind the rhetoric",
                    "beneath the rhetoric",
                    "despite the rhetoric"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "the art of using language in speech or writing in a special way that influences or entertains people",
            "labels": "(formal)",
            "examples": [],
            "synonyms": "eloquence, oratory"
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈretərɪk/",
                "audio": "rh/rhetoric/rhetoric__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈretərɪk/",
                "audio": "rh/rhetoric/rhetoric__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Middle English: from Old French rethorique, via Latin from Greek rhētorikē (tekhnē) ‘(art) of rhetoric’, from rhētōr ‘rhetor’."
}