SPEAK OUT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does speak out mean? 

• SPEAK OUT (verb)
  The verb SPEAK OUT has 1 sense:

1. express one's opinion openly and without fear or hesitation

  Familiarity information: SPEAK OUT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPEAK OUT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Express one's opinion openly and without fear or hesitation

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

animadvert; opine; sound off; speak out; speak up

Context example:

John spoke up at the meeting

Hypernyms (to "speak out" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "speak out"):

editorialise; editorialize (insert personal opinions into an objective statement)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

 Context examples 

“These matters are always a secret, till it is found out that every body knows them. Only let me be told when I may speak out. I wonder whether Jane has any suspicion.”

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“Mr. Micawber,” said I, “what is the matter? Pray speak out. You are among friends.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"Courage," urged the lawyer,—"speak out."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She went away to get it; when the door was shut upon her he said to me:—We mean the same! speak out!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I know,—I can see it—you have, among other ways, been used to managing people with your eyes, letting your moral courage speak out through them, as it were.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Previous research suggests that when we prepare to speak out loud, our brain creates a copy of the instructions that are sent to our lips, mouth and vocal cords.

(Talking to Ourselves And Voices in Our Heads, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Speak out, man!

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She did neither, but she remembered the scene, and gave the Professor her heartiest respect, for she knew it cost him an effort to speak out then and there, because his conscience would not let him be silent.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

You speak out boldly, squire, the prince answered; but unless I have some further assurance of your master's noble birth and gentle name I cannot match the choicest lances of my court against him.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I gives her a kiss, and I says no more to her than, “My dear, you're right to speak out, you're to choose for yourself, you're as free as a little bird.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)