rhetorical question

rhetorical question

A question that is not intended to produce some enlightening answer, but rather already has an obvious answer so as to make or emphasize some point. Please do not ask rhetorical questions during this press briefing. Does a record surge in sales and stock prices suggest a failing company to you? That's a rhetorical question, Tom—of course it doesn't.
See also: question
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

rhetorical question

A question asked without expecting an answer but for the sake of emphasis or effect. The expected answer is usually "yes" or "no." For example, Can we improve the quality of our work? That's a rhetorical question. [Late 1800s]
See also: question
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • a civil question deserves a civil answer
  • civil
  • deserve
  • answer (one) back
  • answer back
  • afraid
  • afraid not
  • (I'm) (a)fraid not
  • fraid
  • dusty
References in periodicals archive
For Koshik (2005:36) without context or pragmatic factors (Karhanova 2005:344) a rhetorical question will be 'heard as asking a question i.e.
Men in her department, as relayed in her talk, were vocal about expressing their disagreement with the appointment of women at high positions of power, "how are we going to tell our wives that the head of our department is a woman?" Their rhetorical question implied belittlement of women and amazement at a situation that did not in their eyes agree with the Discourse which positioned women as inferior not superior to men.
H3: Messages using a rhetorical question heading result in greater (a)self- referencing and (b) perceived ad effectiveness among those who are more concerned about the issue.
Some questions prompt readers to process what has been presented, some ask readers to respond to a rhetorical question, and some require readers to supply details to an argument or create a counterexample of a theorem.
In verse 6, which immediately follows Judah's speech, Israel (as Jacob is now identified) speaks again, this time asking a rhetorical question that criticizes his sons.
A RHETORICAL question: at 5-5 in a penalty shoot-out in the football World Cup final would you end your coverage in order to show Come Dine With Me?
To pose the not-at-all rhetorical question raised by Crouzet's provocative book: can Stendhal's idee d'Amerique tell us more than simply how Stendhal's mind worked?
It's a slightly rhetorical question because we have a cat at home (I inherited joint ownership upon marriage).
NEW YORK Tom Hanks took the stage of one of Gotham's most exalted performance spaces April 27 and posed the rhetorical question that had been on the minds of many all night.
But the Lou Holtzes of the world usually ask a rhetorical question before each major point.
Malone raised a rhetorical question: "Is this not telling voters how to vote?"
Senior operative major of the Tajik State Committee on National Security Alimjan Sherboev leaded the C[pounds sterling]seizureC[yen].Journalist also told that Uzbek citizens were beaten to make them sign agreement on cooperation with the Tajik State Committee on National Security and providing intelligence information.Shadmanov was released at the frontier check point of Bekabada town of Tashkent region after US$6 thousand were received.The author concludes his article with rhetorical question C[pounds sterling]whether the Tajik authorities know about provocative and blackmailing actions of their colleagues against the Uzbek citizens and work money this way.C[yen]
"My favorite rhetorical question, which I received an alarming number of times, was 'Why don't you mock Mohammed next?
That was a rhetorical question - the answer is obviously No, because he's starring in the sequel to Daddy Day Care (a film he wasn't even in.
It was a rhetorical question designed to make a narrowly economic point, since Sarkozy knows all about the competitive rigors of French society, but it's still worth taking seriously.