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speech

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The ability to speak.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

speech
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈspitʃ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. uncountable

    The ability to speak; the faculty of uttering words or articulate sounds and vocalizations to communicate.

  2. uncountable

    The act of speaking, a certain style of it.

  3. countable

    A formal session of speaking, especially a long oral message given publicly by one person.

  4. uncountable

    Language used orally, rather than in writing.

  5. uncountable

    Public talk, news, gossip, rumour.

  6. countable

    A dialect, vernacular, or (dated) a language.

verb

  1. transitiveintransitive

    To make a speech; to harangue.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The ability to speak; the faculty of uttering words or articulate sounds and vocalizations to communicate.

Used this way, speech 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
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use speech

  • “They were perfectly comfortable together without speech.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

free speechspeech acthuman speechfirst speechlong speech

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • speech communicationnounCompound term

    Communication by word of mouth.

  • speech communitynounCompound term

    People sharing a given language or dialect.

  • speech daynounCompound term

    An annual day in the schools when speeches are made and prizes are distributed.

  • speech defectnounCompound term

    A disorder of oral speech.

  • speech disordernounCompound term

    A disorder of oral speech.

  • speech intelligibilitynounCompound term

    The intelligibility of speech (usually measured in the presence of noise or distortion).

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: ability to speak

languagespoken language

verb

Sense: to make a speech

addresslecture

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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.