speeches

Noun

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.
2. (uncountable) The act of speaking, a certain style of it.
   • It was hard to hear his speech over the noise.
3. (countable) A formal session of speaking, especially a long oral message given publicly by one person.
   • The candidate made some ambitious promises in his campaign speech.

   Synonyms:

   address, allocution, monologue, oration, soliloquy

4. (countable) A dialect, vernacular, or (dated) a language.
   • For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech, and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 3:6

   Synonyms:

   language, leid, lingo, tongue

5. (uncountable) Language used orally, rather than in writing.
   • This word is mostly used in speech.
6. An utterance that is quoted; see direct speech, reported speech

See all 8 meanings of speech