speech
pronunciation
How to pronounce speech in British English:
UK [spiːtʃ]
How to pronounce speech in American English:
US [spiːtʃ]
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- Noun:
- the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience
- (language) communication by word of mouth
- something spoken
- the exchange of spoken words
- your characteristic style or manner of expressing yourself orally
- a lengthy rebuke
- words making up the dialogue of a play
- the mental faculty or power of vocal communication
Word Origin
- speech
- speech: [OE] Speech originated as a derivative of the late Old English verb specan, ancestor of modern English speak. It was originally used for the ‘action of speaking’ in general, or for ‘conversation’; the modern application to an ‘address delivered to an audience’ did not emerge until the 16th century.=> speak
- speech (n.)
- Old English spæc "act of speaking; power of speaking; manner of speaking; statement, discourse, narrative, formal utterance; language," variant of spræc, from Proto-Germanic *sprek-, *spek- (cognates: Danish sprog, Old Saxon spraca, Old Frisian spreke, Dutch spraak, Old High German sprahha, German Sprache "speech;" see speak (v.)) The spr- forms were extinct in English by 1200. Meaning "address delivered to an audience" first recorded 1580s. And I honor the man who is willing to sink Half his present repute for the freedom to think, And, when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, Will risk t' other half for the freedom to speak, Caring naught for what vengeance the mob has in store, Let that mob be the upper ten thousand or lower. [James Russell Lowell, "A Fable for Critics," 1848]
Antonym
Example
- 1. Managing free speech in home markets is hard too .
- 2. Yet the speech is destined to disappoint .
- 3. The speech bypasses a bizarre political impasse .
- 4. Some speech pathologists were self-employed .
- 5. Hate speech and xenophobia are on the rise .