SPEECH

n. 1 speaking, talking, articulation, diction, language, expression, enunciation, elocution, speech pattern; communication His speech is marred by a lisp Martha studied speech at a well-known drama school. 2 oration, address, lecture, talk, discourse, disquisition, sermon, homily; tirade, harangue, philippic; (sales) pitch, line, song and dance; Colloq spiel, blast Her speech left her audience awed with her knowledge of the subject When the householder opens the door, you launch into your speech about the encyclopedia. 3 dialect, idiolect, jargon, parlance, idiom, façon de parler, language, tongue, Colloq lingo English speech varieties range from Scots to Cockney to Texan to Jamaican