Definitions for speech
spitʃspeech

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:3.8 / 4 votes

1. address, speechnoun

   the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience

   "he listened to an address on minor Roman poets"

2. speech, speech communication, spoken communication, spoken language, language, voice communication, oral communicationnoun

   (language) communication by word of mouth

   "his speech was garbled"; "he uttered harsh language"; "he recorded the spoken language of the streets"

3. speechnoun

   something spoken

   "he could hear them uttering merry speeches"

4. speechnoun

   the exchange of spoken words

   "they were perfectly comfortable together without speech"

5. manner of speaking, speech, deliverynoun

   your characteristic style or manner of expressing yourself orally

   "his manner of speaking was quite abrupt"; "her speech was barren of southernisms"; "I detected a slight accent in his speech"

6. lecture, speech, talking tonoun

   a lengthy rebuke

   "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to"

7. actor's line, speech, wordsnoun

   words making up the dialogue of a play

   "the actor forgot his speech"

8. language, speechnoun

   the mental faculty or power of vocal communication

   "language sets homo sapiens apart from all other animals"

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. speechnoun

   The faculty of speech; the ability to speak or to use vocalizations to communicate.

2. speechnoun

   A session of speaking; a long oral message given publicly usually by one person.

   The candidate made some ambitious promises in his campaign speech.

3. Etymology: From speche, from spæc, spræc, from sprēkijō, from spereg-. Cognate with spraak, Sprache, sprog. More at speak.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Speechnoun

   Etymology: from speak.

   1. The power of articulate utterance; the power of expressing thoughts by vocal words.

   There is none comparable to the variety of instructive expressions by speech, wherewith a man alone is endowed, for the communication of his thoughts. William Holder, on Speech.

   Though our ideas are first acquired by various sensations and reflections, yet we convey them to each other by the means of certain sounds, or written marks, which we call words; and a great part of our knowledge is both obtained and communicated by these means, which are called speech. Isaac Watts.

   2. Language; words considered as expressing thoughts.

   In speech be eight parts. Accidence.

   The acts of God to human ears
   Cannot without process of speech be told. John Milton.

   3. Particular language as distinct from others.

   There is neither speech nor language, but their voices are heard among them. Ps. Common Prayer.

   4. Any thing spoken.

   A plague upon your epileptick visage!
   Smile you my speeches as I were a fool. William Shakespeare, K. Lear.

   5. Talk; mention.

   The duke did of me demand
   What was the speech among the Londoners,
   Concerning the French journey. William Shakespeare.

   Speech of a man’s self ought to be seldom. Francis Bacon, Essays.

   6. Oration; harangue.

   The constant design of these orators, in all their speeches, was to drive some one particular point. Jonathan Swift.

   7. Liberty to speak.

   I, with leave of speech implor’d, reply’d. John Milton.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Speech

   Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are the same word, e.g., "role" or "hotel"), and using those words in their semantic character as words in the lexicon of a language according to the syntactic constraints that govern lexical words' function in a sentence. In speaking, speakers perform many different intentional speech acts, e.g., informing, declaring, asking, persuading, directing, and can use enunciation, intonation, degrees of loudness, tempo, and other non-representational or paralinguistic aspects of vocalization to convey meaning. In their speech, speakers also unintentionally communicate many aspects of their social position such as sex, age, place of origin (through accent), physical states (alertness and sleepiness, vigor or weakness, health or illness), psychological states (emotions or moods), physico-psychological states (sobriety or drunkenness, normal consciousness and trance states), education or experience, and the like. Although people ordinarily use speech in dealing with other persons (or animals), when people swear they do not always mean to communicate anything to anyone, and sometimes in expressing urgent emotions or desires they use speech as a quasi-magical cause, as when they encourage a player in a game to do or warn them not to do something. There are also many situations in which people engage in solitary speech. People talk to themselves sometimes in acts that are a development of what some psychologists (e.g., Lev Vygotsky) have maintained is the use of silent speech in an interior monologue to vivify and organize cognition, sometimes in the momentary adoption of a dual persona as self addressing self as though addressing another person. Solo speech can be used to memorize or to test one's memorization of things, and in prayer or in meditation (e.g., the use of a mantra). Researchers study many different aspects of speech: speech production and speech perception of the sounds used in a language, speech repetition, speech errors, the ability to map heard spoken words onto the vocalizations needed to recreate them, which plays a key role in children's enlargement of their vocabulary, and what different areas of the human brain, such as Broca's area and Wernicke's area, underlie speech. Speech is the subject of study for linguistics, cognitive science, communication studies, psychology, computer science, speech pathology, otolaryngology, and acoustics. Speech compares with written language, which may differ in its vocabulary, syntax, and phonetics from the spoken language, a situation called diglossia. The evolutionary origins of speech are unknown and subject to much debate and speculation. While animals also communicate using vocalizations, and trained apes such as Washoe and Kanzi can use simple sign language, no animals' vocalizations are articulated phonemically and syntactically, and do not constitute speech.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. speech

   Speech is a form of human communication using spoken language. It involves the vocal production of sounds, usually in a structured and conventional way, to convey a particular meaning or message. This process includes articulation, voice production, fluency, and language skills involving vocabulary, grammar, and syntax.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:3.0 / 1 vote

1. Speechnoun

   the faculty of uttering articulate sounds or words; the faculty of expressing thoughts by words or articulate sounds; the power of speaking

2. Speechnoun

   he act of speaking; that which is spoken; words, as expressing ideas; language; conversation

3. Speechnoun

   a particular language, as distinct from others; a tongue; a dialect

4. Speechnoun

   talk; mention; common saying

5. Speechnoun

   formal discourse in public; oration; harangue

6. Speechnoun

   ny declaration of thoughts

7. Speech

   to make a speech; to harangue

FreebaseRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Speech

   Speech is the vocalized form of human communication. It is based upon the syntactic combination of lexicals and names that are drawn from very large vocabularies. Each spoken word is created out of the phonetic combination of a limited set of vowel and consonant speech sound units. These vocabularies, the syntax which structures them, and their set of speech sound units differ, creating the existence of many thousands of different types of mutually unintelligible human languages. Most human speakers are able to communicate in two or more of them. The vocal abilities that enable humans to produce speech also provide humans with the ability to sing. A gestural form of human communication exists for the deaf in the form of sign language. Speech in some cultures has become the basis of a written language, often one that differs in its vocabulary, syntax and phonetics from its associated spoken one, a situation called diglossia. Speech in addition to its use in communication, it is suggested by some psychologists such as Vygotsky is internally used by mental processes to enhance and organize cognition in the form of an interior monologue.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Speech

   spēch, n. that which is spoken: language: the power of speaking: manner of speech, oration: any declaration of thoughts: mention: colloquy: conference.—ns. Speech′-craft, the science of language: the gift of speech; Speech′-crī′er, one who hawked the broadsides containing the dying speeches of persons executed, once common; Speech′-day, the public day at the close of a school year.—adj. Speech′ful, loquacious.—ns. Speechificā′tion, the act of making harangues; Speech′ifīer.—v.i. Speech′ify, to make speeches, harangue (implying contempt).—adj. Speech′less, destitute or deprived of the power of speech.—adv. Speech′lessly.—ns. Speech′lessness; Speech′-māk′er, one accustomed to speak in public; Speech′-māk′ing, a formal speaking before an assembly; Speech′-read′ing, the art of following spoken words by observing the speaker's lips, as taught to deaf-mutes. [A.S. spǽc, sprǽc; Ger. sprache.]

U.S. National Library of MedicineRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Speech

   Communication through a system of conventional vocal symbols.

Editors ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. speech

   The faculty or act of speaking.

   His speech and language developed at such a fast pace to his peers.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on January 12, 2020  

2. ---

   speech

   To express how we feel using words and language.

   They decided a wedding speech was not necessary as they chose for everyone to come to the wedding and enjoy themselves, have fun, feel the love and unity and dance the night away.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on April 9, 2020  

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. speech

   Song lyrics by speech -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by speech on the Lyrics.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. SPEECH

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Speech is ranked #91625 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Speech surname appeared 201 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Speech.
   
   85.5% or 172 total occurrences were Black.
   8.4% or 17 total occurrences were White.
   3.9% or 8 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.

Matched Categories

1. • Auditory Communication
   • Expressive Style
   • Language
   • Line
   • Speaking
   • Speech Act
   • Utterance

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'speech' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1308

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'speech' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2059

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'speech' in Nouns Frequency: #532

Anagrams for speech »

1. cheeps

How to pronounce speech?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say speech in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of speech in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of speech in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of speech in a Sentence

1. H. L. Mencken:

   I believe there is a limit beyond which free speech cannot go, but it's a limit that's very seldom mentioned. It's the point where free speech begins to collide with the right to privacy. I don't think there are any other conditions to free speech. I've got a right to say and believe anything I please, but I haven't got a right to press it on anybody else. ....Nobody's got a right to be a nuisance to his neighbors.

2. Roland Barthes:

   Language is legislation, speech is its code. We do not see the power which is in speech because we forget that all speech is a classification, and that all classifications are oppressive.

3. Harmeet Dhillon:

   The Dalai Lama, the former president of Mexico, famous people come to Cal all the time to speak and they’re allowed to speak and their speech is not barred, their speech is not relegated to 1 to 3 p.m. Their speech is not relegated to being on campus.And their speech is not restricted to only students and their speech is not restricted to not being advertised. These are all unique requirements that are being imposed on conservative speakers at Cal.

4. Paul Barrett:

   The kind of free speech that we are most interested in promoting — and that the first amendment is directed at — is speech related to political matters, public affairs and personal expression, none of those kinds of speech would be affected by an effort to screen out disguised, phony advertising that purports to come from organizations that don’t really exist and actually attempt to undermine discussions on elections. There will be some limitations on fraudulent speech and violent speech, but those are not the types of speech protected by the first amendment. We can afford to lose those types of speech to create an environment where free speech is promoted.

5. William Thatcher:

   Free speech on campus is not limited to a 'free speech zone' or any other narrowly defined area, those disagreeing with the students' message have a right to their own speech, but they do not have the right to erase or stifle someone else's speech under the guise of their own right to free speech.

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