declamation

[dek-luh-mey-shuhn]

noun

1. the act or art of declaiming.

2. exercise in oratory or elocution, as in the recitation of a classic speech.

3. speech or writing for oratorical effect.

4. Music.,  the proper enunciation of the words, as in recitative.

declamation

/ ˌdɛkləˈmeɪʃən /

noun

1. a rhetorical or emotional speech, made esp in order to protest or condemn; tirade

2. a speech, verse, etc, that is or can be spoken

3. the act or art of declaiming

4. music the artistry or technique involved in singing recitative passages

Word History and Origins

Origin of declamation¹

1350–1400; < Latin dēclāmātiōn- (stem of dēclāmātiō ), equivalent to dēclāmāt ( us ) (past participle of dēclāmāre to declaim; -ate ¹ ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

He stretched language and banality to operatic extremes, exalting discarded bits of life as if they were cosmic, in stylized declamation that is every bit as musical as Mozart.

Read more on New York Times

As this druid high priestess, caught in a forbidden love triangle with a Roman soldier and a fellow priestess, Yoncheva can be forceful in declamation — the singing that’s more like speechifying.

Read more on New York Times

At Weill, it emerged with earth-rumbling intensity, as Tines wrapped his luscious voice around its punishing declamations with athletic fervor.

Read more on New York Times

The English songwriter and producer Sipho Ndhlovu revels in drama and desperation, with a voice that regularly leaps between grainy declamation and a tearful falsetto.

Read more on New York Times

Nuance is not much favored in this age of declamation, of all or nothing, of presumption of guilt, of refusal to compromise.

Read more on New York Times