speeches

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of speech.

   Both presidential speeches focused on the economy.

   Her graduation speeches were quoted in newspapers across the country.

   Note

   The plural takes -es because the singular ends in a sibilant, as churches and boxes do. It belongs only to the countable meanings of speech: public addresses, dialects, and quoted utterances. The faculty of speaking and spoken language in general have no plural, so one says the child's speech is improving, never speeches. The same spelling also serves as the verb form, though the noun is what most readers expect.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of speech.

   Note

   Behind this form stands a verb meaning to make a speech, with an edge of haranguing. It works with an object or without one: he speeches the crowd, or he speeches for an hour. Because it looks exactly like the plural noun, a reader will usually parse it as the noun first. Where clarity matters, makes a speech or harangues says the same thing without the stumble.

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