But many writers still prefer to bear in mind the traditional meanings of the word. Thus, according to the newer use of the term, the phrase empty rhetoric, as in The politicians talk about solutions, but they usually offer only empty rhetoric, might be construed as redundant. But in fact only 35 percent of the Usage Panel judged this example to be redundant. Presumably, it can be maintained that rhetoric can be other than empty. Rhetoric Rhetoric, in its broadest sense, the theory and practice of eloquence, whether spoken or written.
Spoken rhetoric is oratory.
Rhetoric defines the rules that should govern all prose composition or speech designed to influence people's judgment or feelings. In a narrower sense, rhetoric is concerned with the fundamental principles according to which oratory is composed. In Athens, Greece, during the 6th century BC a group of teachers, known as Sophists, endeavored to make men better public speakers. The founder of rhetoric as a science is said to be Corax of Syracuse, who in the 5th century BC composed the first handbook on the art of rhetoric. With Isocrates, the great teacher of oratory in the 4th century BC, the art of rhetoric was broadened to become a cultural study.