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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

• speakers
  plural

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• speakers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of speaker

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

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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

See Examples For:

speaker Speaker speakers

After reading the weird A.I. translation, a Bengali speaker said it would make them question whether they could trust the clinic—or the doctor who handed it to them—at all.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

Apple faces challenges as Siri remains slower and less intelligent than rivals, and Amazon has captured two-thirds of the U.S. smart speaker market.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

BMW usually leases official cars for use by top members of the state parliament, including the speaker.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

Lewis, a proud Welsh speaker from Neath, started translating some of her favourite tunes in 2024, landed on the Parton classic and recorded a video of herself singing it.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

Reggae music leaks from a speaker nailed to the mast.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

Former California state Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg has been pounding the pavement, trying to encourage voters to support Proposition 37 on ballots statewide.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

“We want to hear how each of you quantify the risk imposed by AI in the worst-case catastrophic scenario,” City Council Speaker Julie Menin said to a panel of AI executives.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas’ office didn’t reply to a request for comment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

Speaker Johnson, who on Monday faced a barrage of questions about AI from reporters in the halls of Congress, gave no sign he intended to move quickly this week.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

The Speaker of the House opposed suffrage, but he had promised to be fair to the suffragists.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

Apple has struggled for years to gain ground in the smart home, where its HomePod speakers have trailed Amazon’s Alexa and Google devices.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026

Jergens makes industrial hardware such as clamps and quick-release pins that lock everything from aircraft panels to concert speakers into position.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

Nor is there anything inherently noble about making employees spend eight hours deciphering orders shouted through crackling speakers while the ice-cream machine is down and a small diplomatic crisis is unfolding in the PlayPlace.

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026

There are still a slew of Fed speakers on tap for the week ahead that could influence a jittery bond market, as well as minutes of September’s central-bank meeting, due on Wednesday.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 4, 2026

When all the bowing and waving goodbye was over and pop songs blared through the speakers again, Natalie found Patience and Akira backstage.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

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