What does mellifluence mean?
Mellifluence is the persuasive power of sweet, soothing, or flattering language. It suggests speech that does more than communicate information: it wins agreement, reduces resistance, or wins over an audience through its pleasing tone. The word has a literary and occasionally ironic character. It can be approving when it describes effective, graceful persuasion, but it may also imply that a speaker is using charm or flattery to influence others. Although relatively uncommon in everyday conversation, mellifluence is especially useful in discussions of rhetoric, politics, negotiation, and public speaking. Its unusual form makes the connection between honey-like sweetness and flowing, persuasive speech vivid.
nounThe power to influence or persuade through sweet, soothing, or flattering speech. The term is chiefly literary and rhetorical.
- The power to influence or persuade through sweet, soothing, or flattering speech.
"The speaker's mellifluence won over even the most skeptical members of the audience."
"His mellifluence turned a difficult negotiation into a cordial conversation."
"The advertisement relied more on visual impact than on any genuine mellifluence."
The plural is mellifluences, though the word is rarely used in the plural.
"The rhetorician studied the mellifluences that shaped public opinion."
Mellifluence is the art of making words sound persuasive as well as pleasant, combining the ideas of honey-like sweetness and flowing influence.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does mellifluence come from?
Mellifluence combines Latin mel, meaning “honey,” with the influence of Latin fluere, “to flow.” The compound reflects the idea of language that flows sweetly and therefore affects or persuades. Its relatives include mellifluous, meaning sweet-sounding or smoothly flowing, and meliferous, meaning honey-producing.
How mellifluence is actually used
This is a formal and somewhat literary word. It is usually used to describe persuasive or flattering speech, especially when that speech is unusually agreeable or effective.