speech
/spiːt͡ʃ/ noun, verb
Forms speeches speeching speeched speach
- noun (uncountable) The ability to speak; the faculty of uttering words or articulate sounds and vocalizations to communicate. “He had a bad speech impediment.”
- noun (uncountable) The act of speaking, a certain style of it. “It was hard to hear his speech over the noise.”
- noun (countable) A formal session of speaking, especially a long oral message given publicly by one person. “The candidate made some ambitious promises in his campaign speech.”
- noun (countable) A dialect, vernacular, or (dated) a language.
- noun (uncountable) Language used orally, rather than in writing. “This word is mostly used in speech.”
- noun (grammar) An utterance that is quoted; see direct speech, reported speech
- noun (uncountable) Public talk, news, gossip, rumour.
- verb (transitive, intransitive) To make (a speech); to harangue.
Synonyms
address allocution monologue oration soliloquy language leid lingo tongue locution parlance speech communication spoken communication spoken language voice communication oral communication manner of speaking delivery lecture talking to actor's line words
Etymology
From Middle English speche, from Old English spǣċ, sprǣċ (“speech, discourse, language”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprāku (“speech, language”), from Proto-Indo-European *spereg-, *spreg- (“to make a sound”). Cognate with Dutch spraak (“speech”), German Sprache (“language, speech”). More at speak.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The faculty of uttering articulate sounds or words; the faculty of expressing thoughts by words or articulate sounds; the power of speaking.
- noun he act of speaking; that which is spoken; words, as expressing ideas; language; conversation.
- verb To make a speech; to harangue. [R.]
Etymology [OE. speche, AS. sp, spr, fr. specan, sprecan, to speak; akin to D. spraak speech, OHG. sprahha, G. sprache, Sw. spr, Dan. sprog. See Speak.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “speech”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details