Crossword clues for diction
diction
- The articulation of speech regarded from the point of view of its intelligibility to the audience
- The manner in which something is expressed in words
- Asset for an actor
- Speaker's concern
- Choice of words
- Enunciation
- Speech words to be taken down? No ta!
- Non-English issue about to be packed for delivery
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Diction \Dic"tion\, n. [L. dicto a saying, a word, fr. dicere, dictum, to say; akin to dicare to proclaim, and to E. teach, token: cf. F. diction. See Teach, and cf. Benison, Dedicate, Index, Judge, Preach, Vengeance.] Choice of words for the expression of ideas; the construction, disposition, and application of words in discourse, with regard to clearness, accuracy, variety, etc.; mode of expression; language; as, the diction of Chaucer's poems.
His diction blazes up into a sudden explosion of
prophetic grandeur.
--De Quincey.
Syn: Diction, Style, Phraseology.
Usage: Style relates both to language and thought; diction,
to language only; phraseology, to the mechanical
structure of sentences, or the mode in which they are
phrased. The style of Burke was enriched with all the
higher graces of composition; his diction was varied
and copious; his phraseology, at times, was careless
and cumbersome. ``Diction is a general term applicable
alike to a single sentence or a connected composition.
Errors in grammar, false construction, a confused
disposition of words, or an improper application of
them, constitute bad diction; but the niceties, the
elegancies, the peculiarities, and the beauties of
composition, which mark the genius and talent of the
writer, are what is comprehended under the name of
style.''
--Crabb.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1540s, "a word;" 1580s, "expression of ideas in words," from Late Latin dictionem (nominative dictio) "a saying, expression, word," noun of action from dic-, past participle stem of Latin dicere "speak, tell, say" (source of French dire "to say"), related to dicare "proclaim, dedicate," from PIE root *deik- "to point out" (cognates: Sanskrit dic- "point out, show," Greek deiknynai "to prove," Latin digitus "finger," Old High German zeigon, German zeigen "to show," Old English teon "to accuse," tæcan "to teach").
Wiktionary
n. The effectiveness and degree of clarity of word choice, and presentation of said words.
WordNet
n. the articulation of speech regarded from the point of view of its intelligibility to the audience [syn: enunciation]
the manner in which something is expressed in words; "use concise military verbiage"- G.S.Patton [syn: wording, phrasing, phraseology, choice of words, verbiage]
Wikipedia
Diction (; (nom. ), "a saying, expression, word"), in its original, primary meaning, refers to the writer's or the speaker's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression in a poem or story. A secondary, common meaning of "diction" means the distinctiveness of speech, the art of speaking so that each word is clearly heard and understood to its fullest complexity and extremity, and concerns pronunciation and tone, rather than word choice and style. This secondary sense is more precisely and commonly expressed with the term enunciation, or with its synonym articulation.
Diction has multiple concerns, of which register is foremost—another way of saying this is whether words are either formal or informal in the social context. Literary diction analysis reveals how a passage establishes tone and characterization, e.g. a preponderance of verbs relating physical movement suggests an active character, while a preponderance of verbs relating states of mind portrays an introspective character. Diction also has an impact upon word choice and syntax.
Aristotle, in The Poetics (20) states that "Diction comprises eight elements: Phoneme, Syllable, Conjunction, Connective, Noun, Verb, Inflection, and Utterance. However, Epps states that in this passage "the text is so confused and some of the words have such a variety of meanings that one cannot always be certain what the Greek says, much less what Aristotle means."
Usage examples of "diction".
I had deftly extracted some items of information in the course of conversation, and filling up the rest according to the laws of probability and dressing up the whole in astrological diction, I was pronounced to be a seer, and no doubts were cast on my skill.
Latin literature, distinguished by wild passion and the noblest diction.
Sarah had noticed the standoffishness in Denver already, the way better-off people she spoke to at church instantly lost interest in her when she mentioned that she was a cook, no matter how careful she was with her grammar and diction.
These self-appointed arbiters of diction regard some of the Anglo-Saxon words as too coarse, too plebeian for their aesthetic tastes and refined ears, so they are eliminating them from their vocabulary and replacing them with mongrels of foreign birth and hybrids of unknown origin.
Determined to keep pace with the changing scene, Dennis hired one of the best diction coaches in Hollywood to work with Iris.
SOLITARY REAPER, are cast in a dramatic mould, that beauty of diction may be vitalised by an imagined situation.
The chief characteristics of Alexandrianism are well summarized by Professor Robinson Ellis as follows: "Precision in form and metre, refinement in diction, a learning often degenerating into pedantry and obscurity, a resolute avoidance of everything commonplace in subject, sentiment or allusion.
From the affectation of Atticism, and a more than ordinary attention to purity of diction, he has taken the liberty to turn the Roman names into Greek, to call Saturninus, , Chronius.
Throughout the poem the language becomes more intelligible, if we assume that the diction of poetry was already christianized and familiar with Old and New Testament themes and motives.
Perhaps that is because the reconciliation and coordination of chronologies, like the diction and convolutions of the law, are regarded as scribal prerogatives.
When the unsuspecting Jap rushed to the door and found Cadillac sitting in solitary splendour, he was so taken aback by the masked figure's imperious bearing and immaculate diction, he instinctively bowed and started to apologise before he cottoned on.
He has written some Iambic Drolls, with a lightness, a humorous Turn, a Beauty, and a Diction, that are all perfect in the kind.
But I was still captivated by her precise diction, her cadence, and her vocabulary, which had to be college level.
My dead mother's sister, Aunt Susan (and her husband Harry) who had reluctantly agreed to bring me up, had felt affronted, and said so bitterly and often, when my father plucked me out of the comprehensive school that had been 'good enough' for her four sons, and insisted that I take diction lessons and extra tuition in maths, my best subject, and had by one way or another seen to it that I spent five years of intensive learning in a top fee-paying school, Malvern College.
The last five words are clearly a direct quotation, they are so unlike Captain Lokkis' routine diction.