Definition:
The use of appeals to reasons, values, beliefs, and emotions to convince a listener or reader to think or act in a particular way. Aristotle defined rhetoric as "an ability, in each case, to see the available means of persuasion." Adjective: persuasive. See also:
- 30 Writing Topics: Argument and Persuasion
- Artistic Proofs
- Logical Proof
- Argument
- Definitions of Rhetoric
Etymology:
From the Latin, "to persuade"Examples and Observations:
- "Character [ethos] may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion."
(Aristotle, Rhetoric) - "Oral delivery aims at persuasion and making the listener believe he has been converted. Few persons are capable of being convinced; the majority allow themselves to be persuaded."
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) - "In a republican nation, whose citizens are to be led by reason and persuasion and not by force, the art of reasoning becomes of first importance."
(Thomas Jefferson) - "There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus and upset the convictions and debauch the emotions of an audience not practiced in the tricks and delusions of oratory."
(Mark Twain) - "Men are not governed by justice, but by law or persuasion. When they refuse to be governed by law or persuasion, they have to be governed by force or fraud, or both."
(George Bernard Shaw) - "He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense."
(Joseph Conrad) - "The real persuaders are our appetites, our fears and above all our vanity. The skillful propagandist stirs and coaches these internal persuaders."
(Eric Hoffer) - "The best way to persuade people is with your ears--by listening to them."
(Dean Rusk)
Pronunciation: pur-ZWAY-shun
