To consume or finish all of something.
We used up all the dish washing soap.
He used up his frequent flyer miles to take a free trip.
This phrase is often followed by the word "all".
The word for the day is Rhetoric, which means
| 1. persuasive speech or writing: speech or writing that communicates its point persuasively |
| 2. pretentious words: complex or elaborate language that only succeeds in sounding pretentious |
| 3.* empty talk: fine-sounding but insincere or empty language |
| 4. skill with language: the ability to use language effectively, especially to persuade or influence people |
| 5. study of writing or speaking effectively: the study of methods employed to write or speak effectively and persuasively |
| [14th century. Via Old French rethorique< Greek rhētorikē (tekhnē) "(art) of public speaking" < rhētor "speaker"] |
He studied rhetoric in college.
The mayor's promise to fight drugs was just rhetoric, since there was no money in the city budget for a drug program.
The media almost never discuss what the sweeping dismantling of public services inherent in the rhetoric of the anti-government movement would mean in practice.
*This word is mostly used in a negative sense, as explained in definition 3 above. I would add that it can sometimes be a synonym for propaganda.
The Chinese government's talk of the improvement of political conditions for free speech is simply rhetoric.
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