ˌindirect ˈspeech BrE AmE British English , indirect discourse American English ( also reported speech ) noun [uncountable] technical
a way of reporting what someone said without repeating their exact words. For example, in the sentence ‘Julia said that she didn’t want to go’, the clause ‘that she didn’t want to go’ is indirect speech. Her actual words were ‘I don’t want to go’. ⇨ direct speech