oratory
noun
Simple meaning
The art of public speaking.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
awruhtawreeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɔɹətɔɹi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The art of public speaking, especially in a formal, expressive, or forceful manner.
A private chapel or prayer room.
Eloquence; the quality of artistry and persuasiveness in speech or writing.
A Roman Catholic chapel; a building for public or private worship that is not a parish church.
Alternative letter-case form of oratory: a church belonging to the Oratory.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A private chapel or prayer room.
Used this way, oratory is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a religious use: it carries the weight of tradition and ceremony.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Religion/spirituality
- Historical writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use oratory
- “He loved the sound of his own oratory.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A type of oratory used to eulogize or condemn a person or group of people.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.