Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Characterized by persuasive, powerful discourse: an eloquent speaker; an eloquent sermon.
- adj. Vividly or movingly expressive: a look eloquent with compassion. See Synonyms at expressive.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having the power of expressing strong emotions in vivid and appropriate speech; able to utter moving thoughts or words: as, an eloquent orator or preacher; an eloquent tongue.
- Expressing strong emotions with fluency and power; movingly uttered or expressed; stirring; persuasive: as, an eloquent address; eloquent history; an eloquent appeal to a jury.
- Manifesting or exciting emotion, feeling, or interest through any of the senses; movingly expressive or affecting: as, eloquent looks or gestures; a hush of eloquent silence.
- Giving strong expression or manifestation; vividly characteristic.
Wiktionary
- adj. fluently persuasive and articulate
- adj. effective in expressing meaning by speech
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having the power of expressing strong emotions or forcible arguments in an elevated, impassioned, and effective manner.
- adj. Adapted to express strong emotion or to state facts arguments with fluency and power
WordNet 3.0
- adj. expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively
Etymologies
- Latin eloquens ("speaking, having the faculty of speech, eloquent"), present participle of eloqui ("to speak out"), from e ("out") + loqui ("to speak"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ēloquēns, ēloquent-, present participle of ēloquī, to speak out; see elocution. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I couldn't pronounce the word "eloquent" correctly and I was wearing a black dress I had borrowed from my sister.”
The Huffington Post: Grace Li: A Long Overdue 'Thank You' to Youth Service America
“The part of the brain that this seems to have affected is what we call eloquent brain, some of the highest prices real estate in the brain.”
“The man stands up there and speaks in eloquent terms of part of the proposed legislation that is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.”
Georgia congressman: Wilson's outburst 'carefully calculated'
“[…] Did you know that your President knows how to do the call to the prayer in eloquent classical Arabic?”
“In an impressive address, His Lordship referred in eloquent terms to the life of the deceased, and various traits in his character.”
“There was little about his speech that could be called eloquent, despite the fact that he was well educated.”
“But consider that the Catholic Bishops, who have, from my perspective, unfortunately concentrated their energies on the issues of abortion and same-sex marriage, have also engaged in eloquent criticism of American actions in the Iraq War, and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops is among the most important groups that still support the idea of a vigorous welfare state.”
“/… Her language I knew not, but what her eyes said will forever remain eloquent in its anguish.”
“Webster expressed this concept in eloquent language:”
“MR.S. B. GUNDY, President of the Board of Trade, in eloquent terms expressed the thanks of both bodies for the inspiring address, adding his voice to the speaker's in a strong plea for an united effort to solve these vital problems.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘eloquent’.
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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EN - fine scholarly language
exhort, accretion, twenty-nine, atrophy, additive, brilliantly, interreligious, empiricism, pathologic, limitless, half-century, vigilant and 488 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, Vespasian, languid, studied, judgment, dwindle, artifice, contribute, observe, sonorous, gladiator and 264 more...
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501
Classic
bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august and 401 more...
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INTERP - speeches can be...
adequate, adroit, blunt, blurred, committed, divisive, exacerbating, fitting, hollow, lengthy, murky, pronounced and 123 more...
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#faveword
Words chosen as favorites for the Twitter hashtag #faveword.
autumnal, grotto, chiaroscuro, sfumato, homunculus, zing, zest, effervescent, bewitch, avuncular, susurrus, Styrofoam and 205 more...
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Words about Words
words to describe language
invective, eloquent, laconic, solecism, calque, cognate, bombastic, verbose, anthimeria, magniloquent, amphigory, morpheme and 6 more...
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SAT words
tergiversate, cymotrichous, vigilance, wince, consternation, cower, neutralize, euphony, cacophony, misanthrope, bibliophile, kleptomania and 81 more...
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Favs
'nuf said
guffaw, pontificate, regalia, appease, sage, epitome, posit, dissipate, delineate, congruent, erroneous, braggadocio and 20 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Transcendentalism (Thoreau)
A list of words from our Thoreau readings.
rudiment, sentinel, supernumerary, servitor, Memnon, somnolence, simplify, Aurora, vigor, simplicity, Veda, Saint Vitus and 43 more...
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Vocab_TC60Q_txtbook
most vocab in the textbook Page till end chapter 2.
moribund, unflagging, defunct, sated, inveigling, opining, needling, fulminating, lauding, vassals, serfs, minions and 86 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for eloquent.
sweetzingiber (adj): persuasive and moving; specially in speech Jul 17, 2009