rhetorical skills
Art of convincing
Rhetorical skills are abilities in persuasive communication—crafting arguments, choosing words for effect, and structuring ideas to move an audience.
The term covers techniques like analogy, repetition, and emotional appeal.
Someone with strong rhetorical skills can make a weak case sound compelling: His rhetorical skills carried the debate, though his facts were thin.
- voiceSound from throat
- public speakingAddressing a live audience
- persuasionConvincing through reasoning
- emotional appealPersuasion targeting feelings
- ethosCollective moral character
pause · pathos · eloquence · silver tongue · gift of gab · tone · storytelling · stump speech · parallelism · syllogism · rhythm · logos · chiasmus · cadence · argumentation · closing argument · call to action · anaphora
- public speakingspeech, public speaking, keynotes, keynote speeches, oratory
- Standardized TestsSAT, ACT, PSAT, AP exams, College Board
rhetorical skillspoor communication
Ineffective exchange of information
stammering · mumbling · halting speech · inarticulateness · incoherence
rhetorical skillsformal reasoning
Rule-governed inference process
mathematical proof · empirical evidence · scientific method · raw data · logical reasoning
rhetorical skillsunvarnished truth
Reality stated without softening
candor · straightforwardness · directness · spontaneous expression · plainness