SPEECH

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does speech mean? 

• SPEECH (noun)
  The noun SPEECH has 8 senses:

1. the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience

2. (language) communication by word of mouth

3. something spoken

4. the exchange of spoken words

5. your characteristic style or manner of expressing yourself orally

6. a lengthy rebuke

7. words making up the dialogue of a play

8. the mental faculty or power of vocal communication

  Familiarity information: SPEECH used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPEECH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

address; speech

Context example:

he listened to an address on minor Roman poets

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

speech act (the use of language to perform some act)

Meronyms (parts of "speech"):

introduction (the first section of a communication)

close; closing; conclusion; end; ending (the last section of a communication)

body (the central message of a communication)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "speech"):

allocution ((rhetoric) a formal or authoritative address that advises or exhorts)

colloquium (an address to an academic meeting or seminar)

dithyramb (a wildly enthusiastic speech or piece of writing)

impromptu (an extemporaneous speech or remark)

inaugural; inaugural address (an address delivered at an inaugural ceremony (especially by a United States president))

lecture; public lecture; talk (a speech that is open to the public)

litany (any long and tedious address or recital)

oratory (addressing an audience formally (usually a long and rhetorical address and often pompous))

oral presentation; public speaking; speaking; speechmaking (delivering an address to a public audience)

discourse; preaching; sermon (an address of a religious nature (usually delivered during a church service))

Instance hyponyms:

Gettysburg Address (a three-minute address by Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War at the dedication of a national cemetery on the site of the Battle of Gettysburg (November 19, 1863))

Derivation:

speak (give a speech to)

speechify (make speeches; hold forth, or harangue with a certain degree of formality)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(language) communication by word of mouth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

language; oral communication; speech; speech communication; spoken communication; spoken language; voice communication

Context example:

he recorded the spoken language of the streets

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

auditory communication (communication that relies on hearing)

Domain category:

language; linguistic communication (a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "speech"):

conversation (the use of speech for informal exchange of views or ideas or information etc.)

monologue; soliloquy (speech you make to yourself)

dictation (speech intended for reproduction in writing)

charm; magic spell; magical spell; spell (a verbal formula believed to have magical force)

monologue (a long utterance by one person (especially one that prevents others from participating in the conversation))

idiolect (the language or speech of one individual at a particular period in life)

non-standard speech (speech that differs from the usual accepted, easily recognizable speech of native adult members of a speech community)

expression; locution; saying (a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations)

discussion; give-and-take; word (an exchange of views on some topic)

orthoepy; pronunciation (the way a word or a language is customarily spoken)

words (the words that are spoken)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Something spoken

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

he could hear them uttering merry speeches

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

utterance; vocalization (the use of uttered sounds for auditory communication)

Derivation:

speak (express in speech)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The exchange of spoken words

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

they were perfectly comfortable together without speech

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

speaking; speech production (the utterance of intelligible speech)

Derivation:

speak (exchange thoughts; talk with)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Your characteristic style or manner of expressing yourself orally

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

delivery; manner of speaking; speech

Context example:

I detected a slight accent in his speech

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

expressive style; style (a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "speech"):

tongue (a manner of speaking)

inflection; modulation (a manner of speaking in which the loudness or pitch or tone of the voice is modified)

inflection; prosody (the patterns of stress and intonation in a language)

elocution (an expert manner of speaking involving control of voice and gesture)

tone; tone of voice (the quality of a person's voice)

shibboleth (a manner of speaking that is distinctive of a particular group of people)

catch (a break or check in the voice (usually a sign of strong emotion))

address (the manner of speaking to another individual)

Holonyms ("speech" is a part of...):

paralanguage; paralinguistic communication (the use of manner of speaking to communicate particular meanings)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A lengthy rebuke

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

lecture; speech; talking to

Context example:

the teacher gave him a talking to

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

rebuke; reprehension; reprimand; reproof; reproval (an act or expression of criticism and censure)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "speech"):

curtain lecture (a private lecture to a husband by his wife)

preaching; sermon (a moralistic rebuke)

Derivation:

speechify (make speeches; hold forth, or harangue with a certain degree of formality)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Words making up the dialogue of a play

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

actor's line; speech; words

Context example:

the actor forgot his speech

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

line (text consisting of a row of words written across a page or computer screen)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "speech"):

aside (a line spoken by an actor to the audience but not intended for others on the stage)

cue (an actor's line that immediately precedes and serves as a reminder for some action or speech)

monologue (a (usually long) dramatic speech by a single actor)

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

throwaway (words spoken in a casual way with conscious under-emphasis)

Holonyms ("speech" is a part of...):

dialog; dialogue (the lines spoken by characters in drama or fiction)

Sense 8

Meaning:

The mental faculty or power of vocal communication

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

language; speech

Context example:

language sets homo sapiens apart from all other animals

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

faculty; mental faculty; module (one of the inherent cognitive or perceptual powers of the mind)

Meronyms (parts of "speech"):

lexis (all of the words in a language; all word forms having meaning or grammatical function)

lexicon; mental lexicon; vocabulary (a language user's knowledge of words)

Domain member category:

verbalise; verbalize (convert into a verb)

Derivation:

speak (use language)

 Context examples 

“I wonder, I do, at your making such ungrateful speeches,” sobbed Dora.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This was François’s speech next morning when he discovered Spitz missing and Buck covered with wounds.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He fought from sheer joy, finding in it an expression of much that he felt and that otherwise was without speech.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I felt her mittened hand come out to mine. And thus, without speech, we waited the end.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The same power that compels her silence may compel her speech.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This was the moment for the calm, proper speech, but Meg didn't make it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Poor Rushworth and his two-and-forty speeches!” continued Crawford.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Anne did not wish for more of such looks and speeches.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The speech had a sinister sound, but I followed him none the less into the house.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The old woman's voice had changed: her accent, her gesture, and all were familiar to me as my own face in a glass—as the speech of my own tongue.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)