diction

n.

1. Choice and use of words in speech or writing.
2. Degree of clarity and distinctness of pronunciation in speech or singing; enunciation.

[Middle English diccion, a saying, word, from Old French, from Latin dictiō, dictiōn-, rhetorical delivery, from dictus, past participle of dīcere, to say, speak.]

dictional dic'tion·al adj.
dictionally dic'tion·al·ly adv.

noun

Choice of words and the way in which they are used: parlance, phrase, phraseology, phrasing, verbalism, wordage, wording. See words.

diction, the choice of words used in a literary work. A writer's diction may be characterized, for example, by archaism, or by Latinate or Anglo‐Saxon derivations; and it may be described according to the oppositions formal/colloquial, abstract/concrete, and literal/figurative. For the specific conventions of diction in poetry, see poetic diction.

The choice of words. Diction is effective when words are appropriate to an audience. A man might refer to his car as his “wheels” in casual conversation with a friend, but if he were writing an essay for a group of economists, he would write, “People base their decision to buy an automobile on the following considerations,” not “People base their decision to buy wheels on the following considerations.”

The choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language in a literary work; the manner or mode of verbal expression, particularly with regard to clarity and accuracy.

IN BRIEF: Degree of clarity and distinctness of pronunciation in speech or singing; enunciation.

The diction of everyday talk is different from the diction of a formal essay.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - diktion, udtryksmåde, ordvalg

Nederlands (Dutch)
dictie (wijze van zeggen)

Français (French)
n. - style, langage, élocution, diction

Deutsch (German)
n. - Wortwahl, Aussprache

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ορθοφωνία, ορθή άρθρωση, λεκτικό ύφος, φρασεολογία

Italiano (Italian)
dizione, stile

Português (Portuguese)
n. - dicção (f)

Русский (Russian)
стиль, дикция

Español (Spanish)
n. - dicción

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - sätt att uttrycka sig

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
措词, 用语, 发音法, 发音

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 措詞, 用語, 發音法, 發音

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 어법, 발성법

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 用語の選択配列, 言葉使い, 発声法

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أسلوب كلام أو تصرف, عمليه انتقاء واستخدام الكلام‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מיבטא, סגנון, דיקציה‬

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