{ "term": "speech", "partOfSpeech": "noun", "ox3000": true, "cefr": "a2", "definitions": [ { "senseNumber": 1, "definition": "a formal talk that a person gives to an audience", "sensetop": "speech on somethingspeech about somethingin a speech", "cefr": "a2", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "Several people **made speeches** at the wedding." }, { "text": "She **gave a** rousing **speech** to the crowd." }, { "text": "to **deliver a speech** on human rights", "contextForm": "speech on something" }, { "text": "He inspired everyone with a moving speech about tolerance and respect.", "contextForm": "speech about something" }, { "text": "In his **acceptance speech**, the actor thanked his family.", "contextForm": "in a speech" }, { "text": "George Washington's inaugural speech" }, { "text": "He made a speech about workers of the world uniting." }, { "text": "In a speech given last month, she hinted she would run for office." }, { "text": "She delivered the keynote speech (= main general speech) at the conference." }, { "text": "He wrote her party conference speech." }, { "text": "His 20-minute speech was interrupted several times by booing." }, { "text": "Her comments came ahead of a speech she will deliver on Thursday to business leaders." }, { "text": "She concluded her speech by thanking the audience." }, { "text": "He gave an impassioned speech broadcast nationwide." }, { "text": "We heard a speech by the author." }, { "text": "This is very unexpected—I haven't prepared a speech." }, { "text": "The guest speaker is ill so I have to do the opening speech." }, { "text": "He read his speech from a prompter." }, { "text": "the farewell speech given by George Washington" }, { "text": "He made the comments in a nationally televised speech." }, { "text": "During his victory speech the President paid tribute to his defeated opponent." }, { "text": "In his concession speech, he urged his supporters to try to work with Republicans." }, { "text": "The Prime Minister addressed the nation in a televised speech." }, { "text": "He delivered his final speech to Congress." }, { "text": "He delivered the commencement speech at Notre Dame University." }, { "text": "His speech was broadcast on national radio." }, { "text": "In her speech to the House of Commons, she outlined her vision of Britain in the 21st century." }, { "text": "President Bush delivered his 2004 State of the Union speech." }, { "text": "She gave a speech on the economy." }, { "text": "She made a stirring campaign speech on improving the lot of the unemployed." }, { "text": "The President will deliver a major foreign-policy speech to the United Nations." }, { "text": "The candidates gave their standard stump speeches (= political campaign speeches)." }, { "text": "The prizewinner gave an emotional acceptance speech." }, { "text": "a Senate floor speech" }, { "text": "her maiden speech (= her first) in the House of Commons" }, { "text": "the Chancellor's Budget speech" }, { "text": "the Prime Minister's speech-writers" }, { "text": "She's been asked to give the after-dinner speech." }, { "text": "You will need to prepare an acceptance speech." }, { "text": "a political speech writer" } ], "topics": ["Politics"], "collocations": { "adjective": ["brief", "little", "short"], "verb + speech": ["deliver", "give", "make"], "speech + noun": ["writer"], "preposition": ["in a/​the speech", "speech about", "speech on"] } }, { "senseNumber": 2, "definition": "the language used when speaking; the fact of speaking rather than writing", "sensetop": "in speech", "cefr": "b1", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "This expression is used mainly in speech, not in writing.", "contextForm": "in speech" }, { "text": "a defence of **free speech** *(= the right to say openly what you think)*" }, { "text": "speech sounds" }, { "text": "the use of language in everyday speech" }, { "text": "The kids pepper their speech with a lot of slang and terms from social media." }, { "text": "the difficulties of transcribing conversational speech" }, { "text": "Computer-generated speech has become significantly more intelligible and naturalistic." }, { "text": "The poems are delivered in a style between speech and song." }, { "text": "Improvements in speech recognition have produced digital assistants that can respond to spoken commands." }, { "text": "A blind user can 'read' a newspaper using a Braille display or speech synthesizer." }, { "text": "Her singing style is close to the natural rhythms of everyday speech." }, { "text": "the speech rhythms of the Polish language" }, { "text": "He learned to successfully mimic American speech patterns." }, { "text": "birds that mimic the intonations of human speech" }, { "text": "They were able to communicate without speech." }, { "text": "In English, a letter does not always represent the same speech sound." }, { "text": "Speech codes have been instituted by some universities (= to stop language that is sexist, racist, etc.)." }, { "text": "The country continues to suppress free speech and censor the internet." }, { "text": "When the government restricts speech, this may be a violation of the First Amendment." }, { "text": "racist hate speech" } ], "collocations": { "adjective": ["slurred", "clipped", "casual"], "speech + noun": ["pattern", "style", "defect"], "preposition": ["in speech"], "phrases": [ "a figure of speech", "freedom of speech", "the power of speech" ] } }, { "senseNumber": 3, "definition": "the ability to speak", "cefr": "b2", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "I seemed to have lost the power of speech." }, { "text": "a **speech impediment**" }, { "text": "The child was referred to a **speech therapist**." }, { "text": "He temporarily lost the power of speech after the accident." }, { "text": "It's a story about a kid who loses his powers of sight, hearing and speech." }, { "text": "a child who has problems with speech and language" }, { "text": "a speech and language therapist" }, { "text": "After the stroke he had some difficulties with speech." }, { "text": "the development of speech in humans" }, { "text": "Symptoms may include visual and speech impairment." } ], "collocations": { "adjective": ["slurred", "clipped", "casual"], "speech + noun": ["pattern", "style", "defect"], "preposition": ["in speech"], "phrases": [ "a figure of speech", "freedom of speech", "the power of speech" ] } }, { "senseNumber": 4, "definition": "the way in which a particular person speaks", "cefr": "b2", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "Her speech was slurred—she was clearly drunk." }, { "text": "Clear speech with crisp consonant sounds is very important." }, { "text": "She could tell by his slurred speech that he had been drinking." }, { "text": "She was slurring her speech." }, { "text": "I find his speech very hard to understand." }, { "text": "I don't like it when people correct my speech." }, { "text": "His speech was incoherent, responding to questions that had not been asked." }, { "text": "In halting speech, she began to tell her story." }, { "text": "She has a very idiosyncratic style of speech." } ], "collocations": { "adjective": ["slurred", "clipped", "casual"], "speech + noun": ["pattern", "style", "defect"], "preposition": ["in speech"], "phrases": [ "a figure of speech", "freedom of speech", "the power of speech" ] } }, { "senseNumber": 5, "definition": "a group of lines that an actor speaks in a play in the theatre", "cefr": "b1", "examples": [ { "text": "She has the longest speech in the play." } ], "topics": ["Film and theatre"] } ], "pronunciations": { "uk": [ { "pronunciation": "/spiːtʃ/", "audio": "sp/speech/speech__gb_1.mp3" } ], "us": [ { "pronunciation": "/spiːtʃ/", "audio": "sp/speech/speech__us_1.mp3" } ] }, "wordOrigin": "Old English sprǣc, sprēc, later spēc, of West Germanic origin: related to Dutch spraak, German Sprache, also to speak." }