Diction
Etymology
From Latin dictio, "a saying, an utterance, a word," from dicere ("to say, to speak"). English first used it broadly for verbal expression, then narrowed it to the particular vocabulary a writer favors. (A separate, later sense — clarity of pronunciation, as in "an actor’s crisp diction" — grew from the same root.)
noun · /DIK-shun/
A speaker’s or writer’s characteristic choice of words and phrasing.
What it names
The fingerprint left by word selection — the running set of small choices that makes one writer sound plain and another ornate, before any content is compared.
Example
The essay’s formal diction — "commence," "endeavor," "utilize" — made a simple idea sound bureaucratic.
Related idea
Diction is the writer’s choice among available words; the lexicon is the pool those words are drawn from. Same lexicon, different diction, is what separates two stylists.
noun · /DIK-shun/
Clarity of speech — the distinctness with which someone pronounces words.
What it names
an actor’s or singer’s enunciation
Example
Her crisp diction carried to the back of the theatre.
Related idea
Not to be confused with word choice — this sense is about how clearly words are sounded, a kind of orthography for the spoken word.