diction
\ DIK-shuhn \ , noun;
1.style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words: good diction .
2.the accent, inflection, intonation, and speech-sound quality manifested by an individual speaker, usually judged in terms of prevailing standards of acceptability; enunciation.
Quotes:
But the main characters themselves are not credible, with their mythic passions, expressed in diction more formal and flowery than would ever issue from a boy of the slums and a girl from the world of pampered inanity.
-- Rhoda Koenig, "Rio Is Rich," New York , 1994
But wise men pierce this rotten diction and fasten words again to visible things; so that picturesque language is at once a commanding certificate that he who employs it is a man in alliance with truth and God.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nature," 1836
Origin:
Diction stems from the Latin dīcere meaning "to say." The term entered English in the early 1400s.
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