Wiktionary

speech

See also: Speech

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

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.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈspiːt͡ʃ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːtʃ

NounEdit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

speech (countable and uncountable, plural speeches)

  1. (uncountable) The ability to speak; the faculty of uttering words or articulate sounds and vocalizations to communicate.
    He had a bad speech impediment.
    After the accident she lost her speech.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      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.
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “XV and XVIII”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
      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!”
  2. (uncountable) The act of speaking, a certain style of it.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:speech
    It was hard to hear his speech over the noise.
    Her speech was soft and lilting.
    • 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:
      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.
  4. (countable) A formal session of speaking, especially a long oral message given publicly by one person.
    Synonyms: address, allocution, monologue, oration, soliloquy
    The candidate made some ambitious promises in his campaign speech.
    • 1720, Jonathan Swift, A Letter to a Young Clergyman
      The constant design of both these orators, in all their speeches, was to drive some one particular point.
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “I and XII”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
      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.”
  5. (countable) A dialect, vernacular, or (dated) a language.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:language
  6. (uncountable) Language used orally, rather than in writing.
    This word is mostly used in speech.
  7. (grammar) An utterance that is quoted; see direct speech, reported speech
  8. (uncountable) Public talk, news, gossip, rumour.

HyponymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

dialect or language — see dialect,‎ language
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

VerbEdit

speech (third-person singular simple present speeches, present participle speeching, simple past and past participle speeched)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To make a speech; to harangue.
    • 1711, Jonathan Swift, An Excellent New Song
      I'll speech against peace while Dismal's my name, / And be a true whig, while I'm Not-in-game.
    • 1731, The Statesman: A New Court Ballad, page 7:
      So to Speeching he did go, / And like a Man of Senſe, / He certainly ſaid Ay or No,
    • 1965 June 1, “Wales, Land of Bards”, in National Geographic, volume 127, number 6:
      "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."

Derived termsEdit

AnagramsEdit

DutchEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from English speech.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

speech m (plural speechen or speeches, diminutive speechje n)

  1. speech, oration (oral monologic address of some length)
    redevoering (“toespraak”)

Derived termsEdit

AnagramsEdit

FrenchEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

speech m (plural speechs)

  1. an informal speech
    Synonym: allocution

Further readingEdit

RomanianEdit

EtymologyEdit

Unadapted borrowing from English speech.

NounEdit

speech n (plural speech-uri)

  1. speech

DeclensionEdit

Declension of speech
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) speech speechul (niște) speech-uri speech-urile
genitive/dative (unui) speech speechului (unor) speech-uri speech-urilor
vocative speechule speech-urilor
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