Word.ws English Dictionary

speak now or forever hold your peace

speak now or forever hold your peace phrase: traditionally spoken during a wedding ceremony to allow guests an opportunity to voice any objections to the union.

Phrase

speak now or forever hold your peace

  1. Traditionally spoken during a wedding ceremony to allow guests an opportunity to voice any objections to the union.
  2. (broadly, humorous) Spoken to give one's listeners a last chance for comments or feedback.

Origin of speak now or forever hold your peace

Originates from the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. The original wording is: "Therefore if any man can ſhewe any iuste cauſe why they maie not lawfully be ioyned ſo together: Leat him now ſpeake, or els hereafter for euer hold his peace."

Questions about speak now or forever hold your peace

What does speak now or forever hold your peace mean?
Speak now or forever hold your peace means traditionally spoken during a wedding ceremony to allow guests an opportunity to voice any objections to the union.
What part of speech is speak now or forever hold your peace?
Speak now or forever hold your peace is a phrase.

Words near speak now or forever hold your peace in the dictionary

  1. speak in circles
  2. speak in dollars
  3. speak in terms
  4. speak in tongues
  5. speak like a book
  6. speak now or forever hold your peace
  7. speak of
  8. speak of the devil
  9. speak of the devil and he appears
  10. speak of the devil and he shall appear
  11. speak one's conscience

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: speak now or forever hold your peace (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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