speech

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A formal talk given to an audience.

   The candidate made some bold promises in his campaign speech.

2. 2
   noun

   The ability to speak, or the act of speaking.

   After the stroke, he slowly recovered his speech.

3. 3
   noun

   The way someone speaks or talks.

   It was hard to follow his speech over the noise.

From Middle English speche, from Old English spǣċ, sprǣċ (“speech, discourse, language”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprāku (“speech, language”), from Proto-Indo-European *spereg-, *spreg- (“to make a sound”). Cognate with Dutch spraak (“speech”), German Sprache (“language, speech”). More at speak.

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