Pronunciations (4)
-
/spiːt͡ʃ/
-
/spiːt͡ʃ/
Pronunciation notes
- Early
- Modern
-
/spɛːt͡ʃ/
Pronunciation notes
- Early
- Modern
-
ˈspiːtʃ
Noun
The ability to speak; the faculty of uttering words or articulate sounds and vocalizations to communicate.
Usage- Uncountable
- Examples
-
He had a bad speech impediment.
After the accident she lost her speech.
More examples (2)
All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion[…] such talk had been distressingly out of place.
I was at liberty to attend to Wilbert, who I could see desired speech with me. […] As far as Bobbie and I were concerned, silence reigned, this novel twist in the scenario having wiped speech from our lips, as the expression is, but Phyllis continued vocal. […] For perhaps a quarter of a minute after he had passed from the scene the aged relative stood struggling for utterance. At the end of this period she found speech. “Of all the damn silly fatheaded things!”
The act of speaking, a certain style of it.
Usage- Uncountable
- Examples
-
It was hard to hear his speech over the noise.
Her speech was soft and lilting.
More examples (1)
Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.
A formal session of speaking, especially a long oral message given publicly by one person.
Usage- Countable
- Examples
-
The candidate made some ambitious promises in his campaign speech.
The constant design of both these orators, in all their speeches, was to drive some one particular point.
More examples (1)
He's going to present the prizes at Market Snodsbury Grammar School. We've been caught short as usual, and somebody has got to make a speech on ideals and the great world outside to those blasted boys, so he fits in nicely. I believe he's a very fine speaker. His only trouble is that he's stymied unless he has his speech with him and can read it. Calls it referring to his notes. […] “So that's why he's been going about looking like a dead fish. I suppose Roberta broke the engagement?” “In a speech lasting five minutes without a pause for breath.”
A dialect, vernacular, or (dated) a language.
Usage- Countable
- Examples
-
For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech, and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel.
The speche of Englande is a base speche to other noble speches, as Italion, Castylion, and Frenche; howbeit the speche of Englande of late dayes is amended.
Language used orally, rather than in writing.
Usage- Uncountable
- Examples
-
This word is mostly used in speech.
An utterance that is quoted; see direct speech, reported speech
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
Public talk, news, gossip, rumour.
Usage- Uncountable
- Examples
-
The duke[…]did of me demand / What was the speech among the Londoners / Concerning the French journey.
Verb
To make (a speech); to harangue.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
I'll speech against peace while Dismal's my name, / And be a true whig, while I'm Not-in-game.
So to Speeching he did go, / And like a Man of Senſe, / He certainly ſaid Ay or No,
More examples (2)
Two lawyers who had come over from Williamsburg to make speeches in honor of Battery Dan were told by Lawyer William J. Caffrey that only Manhattanites would be allowed to speak. “If you let my friend speech something,” said one of the Williamsburgers, “I will be satisfactioned mitout^([sic]) speeching.[…]”
"He wasn't one to make himself big," said Mr. Jones. "But he had something that drew the people when he was speeching... When he came down we all used to shout 'Lloyd George am byth!' You know, 'Lloyd George forever!' That was just how we felt."
Noun
the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
he listened to an address on minor Roman poets
(language) communication by word of mouth
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
his speech was garbled
he uttered harsh language
More examples (1)
he recorded the spoken language of the streets
something spoken
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
he could hear them uttering merry speeches
the exchange of spoken words
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
they were perfectly comfortable together without speech
your characteristic style or manner of expressing yourself orally
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
his manner of speaking was quite abrupt
her speech was barren of southernisms
More examples (1)
I detected a slight accent in his speech
a lengthy rebuke
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline
the teacher gave him a talking to
words making up the dialogue of a play
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the actor forgot his speech
the mental faculty or power of vocal communication
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
language sets homo sapiens apart from all other animals