* This is a quick-look glossary of nouns related to the study of Rhetoric. Most of the words in the glossary carry multiple meanings; those listed here are the essential meanings, those you might need in a pinch, when completing a reading or exercise. See our textbooks for a thorough discussion of these and related concepts.
- Appeal: part of an Argument (see Ethos, Pathos, Logos)
- Argument: Everything
- Author: the creator of a Text (AKA speaker, orator, singer, painter, etc.)
- Audience: the receptor of a Text (AKA hearer, listener, viewer, watcher, etc.)
- Commonplace: rhetorical short-hand, often also a Fallacy
- Context(s): the situation(s) in which the Audience encounters a Text. See Rhetorical Situation.
- Ethos: the character and credibility of an Author or other agent in an Argument
- Fallacy: a rhetorical blunder, intentional or unintentional
- Genre: a stylistic or formal category of Text
- Kairos: the opportune moment for an utterance
- Logos: the logic underlying an Argument
- Medium (pl. Media): the means through which an argument passes from author to audience (e.g. video, television, magazine, film)
- Pathos: the emotional content of an Argument
- Publication: the specific Medium (physical or digital) in which a text appears for public consumption (e.g. Gawker, Newsweek, YouTube)
- Rhetorical Situation: a general term for the amalgam of context