- speech
- noun1 speakingADJECTIVE▪ slurred▪
She could tell by his slurred speech that he had been drinking.
▪ clipped▪ casual▪ connected, continuous, fluent▪ natural, normal, ordinary▪ spontaneous▪ direct▪ indirect, reported▪ free▪The demonstrators were demanding free speech.
▪ hate, hateful (esp. AmE)▪racist hate speech
▪ conversational, everyday▪ children's, human, etc.SPEECH + NOUN▪ pattern, style▪He learned to successfully mimic American speech patterns.
▪ defect (esp. BrE), impairment, impediment▪ therapist, therapy▪ community (technical)▪The members of a speech community share many cultural attitudes.
▪ recognition▪These computers are capable of speech recognition.
▪ code (esp. AmE)▪Speech codes have been instituted by some universities (= to stop language that is sexist, racist, etc.).
▪ act (technical)▪ marks (esp. BrE)▪The author's punctuation goes outside speech marks.
PREPOSITION▪ in speech▪the use of language in everyday speech
▪Certain grammatical rules must be followed when describing a conversation in reported speech.
PHRASES▪ a figure of speech▪When we say we're ‘dead tired’, it's just a figure of speech.
▪ freedom of speech▪the right of/to freedom of speech
▪ the power of speech▪He temporarily lost the power of speech after the accident.
2 formal talkADJECTIVE▪ brief, little, short▪ interminable, long, long-winded, rambling▪ keynote, major▪ eloquent, excellent, good▪ emotional, impassioned, rousing, stirring▪ boring▪ impromptu▪ public▪ televised▪ political▪ presidential▪ campaign, conference (esp. BrE), convention (esp. AmE), floor (AmE), stump (AmE)▪a Senate floor speech
▪The candidates gave their standard stump speeches.
▪ Budget (BrE), inaugural, policy, State of the Union (AmE)▪George Washington's inaugural speech
▪the Chancellor's Budget speech
▪a foreign policy speech delivered by the president
▪President Bush delivered his 2004 State of the Union speech.
▪ acceptance, concession (AmE), farewell, resignation (esp. BrE), victory▪The prizewinner gave an emotional acceptance speech.
▪ maiden (esp. BrE)▪her maiden speech in the House of Commons
▪ commencement (AmE), opening▪He delivered the commencement speech at Notre Dame University.
▪ closing (esp. BrE)▪ after-dinner (esp. BrE)VERB + SPEECH▪ deliver, give, make, read▪The President will deliver a major foreign-policy speech to the United Nations.
▪ broadcast▪His speech was broadcast on national radio.
▪ writeSPEECH + NOUN▪ writer (usually speech-writer)▪the Prime Minister's speech-writers
PREPOSITION▪ in a/the speech▪ speech about, speech on▪She gave a speech on the economy.
▪She made a stirring campaign speech on improving the lot of the unemployed.
▪ speech to▪He delivered his final speech to Congress.
▪In her speech to the House of Commons, she outlined her vision of Britain in the 21st century.
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
