Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To deliver a formal recitation, especially as an exercise in rhetoric or elocution.
- v. To speak loudly and vehemently; inveigh.
- v. To utter or recite with rhetorical effect.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To make a formal speech or oration; harangue.
- To speak or write for rhetorical effect; speak or write pompously or elaborately, without earnestness of purpose, sincerity, or sound argument; rant.
- To repeat a select piece of prose or poetry in public, as an exercise in oratory or to exhibit skill in elocution.
- To utter or deliver in public in a rhetorical or oratorical manner.
- To speak as an exercise in elocution: as, he declaimed Mark Antony's speech.
- 3. To maintain or advocate oratorically.
- To speak against; cry down; decry.
Wiktionary
- v. To object to something vociferously; to rail against in speech.
- v. To recite, e.g., poetry, in a theatrical way.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To speak rhetorically; to make a formal speech or oration; to harangue; specifically, to recite a speech, poem, etc., in public as a rhetorical exercise; to practice public speaking.
- v. To speak for rhetorical display; to speak pompously, noisily, or theatrically; to make an empty speech; to rehearse trite arguments in debate; to rant.
- v. To utter in public; to deliver in a rhetorical or set manner.
- v. obsolete To defend by declamation; to advocate loudly.
WordNet 3.0
- v. speak against in an impassioned manner
- v. recite in elocution
Etymologies
- From Latin dēclāmō. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English declamen, from Latin dēclāmāre : dē-, intensive pref.; see de- + clāmāre, to cry out; see kelə-2 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“There's a fierce gray bird with a bending beak," that the boys loved so dearly to "declaim;" and another poem by this last author, which we all liked to read, partly from a childish love of the tragic, and partly for its graphic description of an avalanche's movement: --”
“From the latter, there are some who pretend to be free: they are generally such as declaim against the lust of wealth and power, because they have never been able to attain any high degree in either: they boast of generosity and feeling.”
“Only Thor's evil brother, Loki Tom Hiddleston, gets to declaim any flavorsome lines.”
The Wall Street Journal: 'Thor': A Vehicle of Low Norsepower
“SCOTT SIMON, host: In Washington, D.C. this week, something happened just a few blocks from Congress, where politicians debate and declaim about illegal immigrants.”
“Nay, the members of a union will declaim in impassioned rhetoric for the God-given right of an eight-hour day, and at the time be working their own business against seventeen hours out of the twenty-four.”
“Boehner says that whoever runs against Obama will have to want to make a smaller government and love America, but not love America in a way that forces Boehner to say, "I take him at his word that he loves America," rather, one that makes Boehner declaim with certainty, "He loves America.”
“As theater, it offers some exceptional monologues and just as many opportunities for actors to declaim their speeches rather than perform them.”
The Huffington Post: Michael Giltz: Theater: The Normal Heart Still Burns
“This observation contradicts both common sense and the collective wisdom of teachers and preachers, who declaim that we fear—and sometimes should fear—the “other,” the dangerous stranger.”
“No, it is typically some über-master (2010: Michael Chabon) who must at all times, in front of apprentices, declaim modesty and commitment to the common religion.”
“No, it is typically some über-master (2010: Michael Chabon) who must at all times, in front of apprentices, declaim modesty and commitment to the common religion.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘declaim’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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EN - archaic words
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 328 more...
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Naresh_Special
portent, organically, malicious, sham, olfactory, vertebrates, protuberance, sensilla, flagitious, pleonastic, exiguous, wayward and 102 more...
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Words from Blood Meridian
visage, affray, scullery, miasma, mirth, purlieu, tacit, benighted, wickiup, corral, amble, accoutre and 210 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, Vespasian, languid, studied, judgment, dwindle, artifice, contribute, observe, sonorous, gladiator and 264 more...
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Naresh_Gre2
convoke, cosset, coterie, declaim, distaff, doff, dovetail, droll, dyspeptic, egress, ersatz, euphemism and 108 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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Censure (v.)
Someone must have had an inferiority complex.
vituperate, vilify, trounce, traduce, slander, scold, revile, reprove, reprimand, reprehend, remonstrate, rebuke and 37 more...
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List 2(starting at 260)
mammoth, overt, valor, aspire, relegate, bias, incisive, scurry, precipitate, singular, inveigh, repulse and 48 more...
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GRE 1100
drudgery, implore, hapless, nuance, wrest, incipient, inadvertent, tremulous, bristle, euphemism, disdain, pugnacious and 346 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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G...R...E
gross.
sybarite, restiveness, churl, nepotism, jingoism, pusillanimous, gaffe, incisive, enervate, bucolic, concomitant, abeyance and 158 more...
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1100 words you need to know
GRE words
voracious, indiscriminate, replete, steeped, eminent, perceive, intrepid, compound, automaton, reticent, interminable, drudgery and 288 more...
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Good for Academics
Gahh!! Study!
supplant, usurp, finagle, winnow, draconian, abut, collude, swindle, objectify, incite, decadent, obstinate and 327 more...
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Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for declaim.
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