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• speaker
  speaker

  noun

  a person who speaks.
• Speaker
  Speaker

  noun

  Tris(tram E.), 1888–1958, U.S. baseball player.

speaker

¹ American  

[spee-ker] / ˈspi kər /

noun

1. a person who speaks.

2. a person who speaks formally before an audience; lecturer; orator.

3. (usually initial capital letter) the presiding officer of the U.S. House of Representatives, the British House of Commons, or other such legislative assembly.

4. Also called loudspeaker.  an electroacoustic device, often housed in a cabinet, that is connected as a component in an audio system, its function being to make speech or music audible.

5. a book of selections for practice in declamation.

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idioms

1. be / not be on speakers, speaking.

Speaker ² American  

[spee-ker] / ˈspi kər /

noun

1. Tris(tram E.), 1888–1958, U.S. baseball player.

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speaker ¹ British  

/ ˈspiːkə /

noun

1. a person who speaks, esp at a formal occasion

2. See loudspeaker

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Speaker ² British  

/ ˈspiːkə /

noun

1. the presiding officer in any of numerous legislative bodies, including the House of Commons in Britain and Canada and the House of Representatives in the US, Australia, and New Zealand

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonspeaker
  noun
• speakership
  noun

Etymology

Origin of speaker

Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; see origin at speak, -er ¹

Explanation

A speaker is someone who delivers a speech or a device that makes sounds louder. The speaker gave a great speech but you couldn't hear it because the speaker was turned off. Speaker has a few different meanings, from the person who addresses a group, to the piece of equipment that amplifies sound to someone who is fluent in a particular language. For example, a native Spanish speaker can usually tell if someone learned the language in high school because textbooks don't always include the slang and idioms of everyday speech.

Example Sentences

Buddhist mantras should be chanted while the baby is being delivered, but he can't remember the words, so he plays them from his phone on speaker instead.

From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026

The world’s richest man has been invited as the keynote speaker for ASML’s private technology conference this Thursday, according to Bloomberg and other media reports.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 8, 2026

After speaker introductions, the brainstorming began to “right this ship,” as one person said, and to keep exploring ways to stop data centers.

From Salon • Jun. 6, 2026

Partway through his spiel, Burns activated the speaker on his iPhone and held it to the microphone so the president could address the crowd.

From Slate • Jun. 2, 2026

Buzzing with excitement to test my hypothesis, I slipped the iPod into her speaker dock.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas