English Dictionary

SOLILOQUY

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

 Dictionary entry overview: What does soliloquy mean? 

SOLILOQUY (noun)
  The noun SOLILOQUY has 2 senses:

1. speech you make to yourselfplay

2. a (usually long) dramatic speech intended to give the illusion of unspoken reflectionsplay

  Familiarity information: SOLILOQUY used as a noun is rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


SOLILOQUY (noun)


Sense 1

Meaning:

Speech you make to yourself

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

monologue; soliloquy

Hypernyms ("soliloquy" is a kind of...):

language; oral communication; speech; speech communication; spoken communication; spoken language; voice communication ((language) communication by word of mouth)

Derivation:

soliloquize (talk to oneself)


Sense 2

Meaning:

A (usually long) dramatic speech intended to give the illusion of unspoken reflections

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("soliloquy" is a kind of...):

actor's line; speech; words (words making up the dialogue of a play)

Derivation:

soliloquize (talk to oneself)


 Context examples 


"My strength is quite failing me," I said in a soliloquy.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Such sensations, however, were too near akin to resentment to be long guiding Fanny's soliloquies.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

To mend the matter, Hamlet's aunt had the family failing of indulging in soliloquy, and held forth in a desultory manner, by herself, on every topic that was introduced.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

My dear, dear anxious friend,—said she, in mental soliloquy, while walking downstairs from her own room, always overcareful for every body's comfort but your own; I see you now in all your little fidgets, going again and again into his room, to be sure that all is right.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“I must be a brute, indeed, if I can be really ungrateful!” said she, in soliloquy.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Now for my soliloquy.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"Make hay while the sun shines." (English proverb)

"Earth is old, but it is not mad" (Breton proverb)

"Covering one's own ears while stealing a bell." (Chinese proverb)

"Well started is half won." (Dutch proverb)



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