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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener.
  2. n. A specific speech or piece of writing in this form of discourse.
  3. n. The act of speaking to oneself.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A talking to one's self; a discourse or talk by a person who is alone, or which is not addressed to any one even when others are present.
  2. n. A written composition containing such a talk or discourse, or what purports to be one.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The act of a character speaking to himself so as to reveal his thoughts to the audience.
  2. n. A speech or written discourse in this form.
  3. v. To issue a soliloquy.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The act of talking to one's self; a discourse made by one in solitude to one's self; monologue.
  2. n. A written composition, reciting what it is supposed a person says to himself.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a (usually long) dramatic speech intended to give the illusion of unspoken reflections
  2. n. speech you make to yourself

Etymologies

  1. Late Latin sōliloquium : Latin sōlus, alone; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots + Latin loquī, to speak; see tolkw- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

  • “Says Greenburg, noting the show also starred Brett Favre when his Hamlet-like soliloquy is once again being treated as news: "I'm happy with the show — an excellent show.”

    Gutter talk snipes 'Joe Buck Live' debut

  • “She or he has a fundamental interest in its practicability, in fact his or her own identity and degree of self-awareness depends upon it: the conversation of soliloquy is "our sovereign remedy and gymnastic method" (84).”

    Post-Secular Conviviality

  • “The “to be or not to be” soliloquy is presented against a vast seascape where waves crash wildly into massive shoreline stones.”

    Current Movie Reviews, Independent Movies - Film Threat

  • “1. 4Lady Macbeth speaks in soliloquy about driving a implicitly squeamish Mac. to seize a throne.”

    Archive 2009-11-01

  • “The soliloquy is alive and well!”

    Arts, books & media

  • “Peg (as if in soliloquy):”

    Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle

  • “• "Too often, though, the album slogs through droning nonstarters such as 'Go Square Go' and 'Polmont on My Mind,' and that's even excepting 'Stabbed,' a ridiculous spoken-word soliloquy that jacks Beethoven's 'Moonlight' Sonata so flagrantly it'd make J.R. Rotem blush.”

    Idolator: Music News, Reviews, And Gossip

  • “She kept going, not waiting for me to answer the question that this soliloquy had budded off of.”

    Fictionaut: It Wasn't Me.

  • “At various points in the movie, Hauer's character hides inside a corpse, shoots a paedophile Santa, eats glass for a gonzo film-maker and delivers a touchingly nonsensical soliloquy about bears as he drifts to sleep in the bed of his hooker surrogate daughter.”

    The Guardian: Rutger Hauer on Hobo With A Shotgun

  • “Then he attempts to influence the ultimate end of the play, contrasting his vision for the last act with one Mr. Ryan described in his Act III soliloquy.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Budget Theatrics Recast Political Script

Show 10 more examples...

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Lists

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Comments

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  • asativum You don't say?
    Jan 26, 2008
  • tonight Wonderful word. Jan 26, 2008
  • wordup It is indeed a beautiful word to say out loud. Nov 11, 2007
  • dbmag9 What do I feel about this word? On the one hand it sounds beautiful: the vowels and consonants run into, over and through each other to form a word which seems to flow off my tongue. On the other hand I feel compelled to take some kind of stand against such a confusing spelling. Surely there should be an extra vowel after the "u"? Surely there should be something, well, different in it? The meaning is also not very useful: a long monologue in which the character (in a film or play) talks to himself (and to the audience) about his thoughts. Automonologue would be the far-less-elegant Greek-derived alternative. Having seen that I think I can conclude my own by saying I like it. Dec 7, 2006
  • dbmag9 What do I feel about this word? On the one hand it sounds beautiful: the vowels and consonants run into, over and through each other to form a word which seems to flow off my tongue. On the other hand I feel compelled to take some kind of stand against such a confusing spelling. Surely there should be an extra vowel after the "u"? Surely there should be something, well, different in it? The meaning is also not very useful: a long monologue in which the character (in a film or play) talks to himself (and to the audience) about his thoughts. Automonologue would be the far-less-elegant Greek-derived alternative. Having seen that I think I can conclude my own by saying I like it. Dec 7, 2006
  • dbmag9 What do I feel about this word? On the one hand it sounds beautiful: the vowels and consonants run into, over and through each other to form a word which seems to flow off my tongue. On the other hand I feel compelled to take some kind of stand against such a confusing spelling. Surely there should be an extra vowel after the "u"? Surely there should be something, well, different in it? The meaning is also not very useful: a long monologue in which the character (in a film or play) talks to himself (and to the audience) about his thoughts. Automonologue would be the far-less-elegant Greek-derived alternative. Having seen that I think I can conclude my own by saying I like it. Dec 7, 2006

‘soliloquy’ has been looked up 5589 times, loved by 35 people, added to 181 lists, commented on 6 times, and has a Scrabble score of 21.