speech

Pluralspeeches

1. 1
   formal talknouncountable

   A talk that one person gives out loud to a group of people.

   Like a teacher standing in front of the class and talking while everyone listens.

   The mayor gave a long speech at the opening ceremony.

   Her graduation speech made everyone cry.

   UsageYou give or make a speech, often a speech about something.

   Similaraddress, oration, allocution

   Note
2. 2
   talking (act or style)noununcountable

   The way a person talks, or the act of talking.

   Like how each person walks in their own way, each person talks in their own way.

   During the interview, her speech stayed calm and steady.

   His fast speech made him hard to understand.

   UsageNo a before it here: his speech is slow. A speech is a talk.

   Similardiction, delivery, articulation, enunciation, elocution

3. 3
   noununcountable

   Words said out loud instead of written down.

   Like the difference between a song you hear and the words printed in a book.

   In everyday speech, people often drop the ends of words.

   Some phrases are common in speech but rare in writing.

   UsageOften in speech or in everyday speech.

   Similarconversation

   Oppositewriting

4. 4
   ability to talknoununcountable

   The power to speak and make words with your voice.

   Like a built-in tool your body uses to turn thoughts into sounds other people can understand.

   A stroke briefly robbed him of his speech.

   Babies develop speech during their first few years.

   UsagePeople can lose their speech or get it back. Do not use a for this meaning.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A way of speaking that belongs to a certain place or group of people.

   Like how food tastes different from town to town, the way people talk changes from place to place.

   The travelers could not follow the local speech.

   Each island had its own speech.

   Similarlanguage, tongue, dialect, lingo

   Note

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