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  1. soliloquy love

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. drama 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. 1595–1605; From Late Latin sōliloquium in the title of St. Augustine's Soliloquiorum libri duo, from sōlus ("only, sole") + loquor ("I speak"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Late Latin sōliloquium : Latin sōlus, alone; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots + Latin loquī, to speak; see tolkw- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “The lengthy trumpet solo near the end, which the program notes advise is an orchestrated soliloquy from the opera on a John Donne poem, was only the most prominent example.”

    The Washington Post: Music review: Adams's 'Doctor Atomic' by BSO at Strathmore

  • “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

  • “He had a 400-word soliloquy that was all over the place, from supposed public puzzlement over some of the judge's decisions, a quip about the senator's son going to University of Pennsylvania, followed by the senator's recollection of speaking at Princeton.”

    Flavia Colgan: Alito Drowning in Words

  • ““You speak a soliloquy as if you were on the stage, and seem to account me a cipher,” said the old admiral suddenly.”

    The Ball at Sceaux

  • “In narrative, no doubt, the writer has the alternative of telling that his personages thought so and so, inferred thus and thus, and arrived at such and such a conclusion; but the soliloquy is a more concise and spirited mode of communicating the same information; and therefore thus communed, or thus might have communed, the Lord of Glenvarloch with his own mind.”

    The Fortunes of Nigel

  • “But there is still another way of avoiding the soliloquy, which is sometimes used with good results.”

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, June 3, 1914

  • “These few remarks are called a soliloquy, being addressed rather to the world in general than to any particular person on the stage.”

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, June 3, 1914

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synonyms (1)

Words with the same meaning

  1. monologue

hypernyms (9)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. speech
  1. words
  1. actor's line
  1. voice communication
  1. spoken language
  1. oral communication
  1. language
  1. speech communication
  1. spoken communication

same context (11)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. apostrophe
  2. monologue
  1. aria
  2. duet
  1. harangue
  2. dirge
  1. pantomime
  2. exhortations
  1. plead
  2. oration
  1. volubility

reverse dictionary (3)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. monologue
  1. soliloquize
  1. stream of consciousness

tags (6)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. often misspelled
  1. pretty
  1. shakespeare
  1. alone
  1. cvcvcvcvv
  1. cvcvcvcvc

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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

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‘soliloquy’ has been looked up 8906 times, loved by 46 people, added to 205 lists, commented on 6 times, and has a Scrabble score of 21.