Collocations for rhetoric - noun

empty, mere
Her speech was just empty rhetoric.

fiery, inflammatory, powerful, radical
government, official, public
campaign
nationalist, patriotic, political, revolutionary
religious

adopt, employ, engage in, resort to, use
He was prepared to use militant rhetoric in attacking his opponents.

behind the rhetoric, beneath the rhetoric
Behind all the rhetoric, his relations with the army are tense.

despite the rhetoric
Little has changed, despite the rhetoric about reform.

rhetoric about, rhetoric on
official rhetoric on the virtues of large families