speak for
verb
Simple meaning
To claim, reserve.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
speekfawrSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈspikˈfɔɹ
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.
verb
To speak on somebody's behalf.
idiomatic
To claim, reserve, or occupy.
idiomatic
To represent an intrinsic quality
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see speak, for.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To speak on somebody's behalf.
Used this way, speak for is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.