declaim

American  

[dih-klaym] / dɪˈkleɪm /

verb (used without object)

• declaims,
  present (3rd person singular)
• declaimed,
  past participle,  past
• declaiming
  present participle

1. to speak aloud in an oratorical manner; make a formal speech.

   Brutus declaimed from the steps of the Roman senate building.

2. to inveigh (usually followed byagainst ).

   He declaimed against the high rents in slums.

3. to speak or write for oratorical effect, as without sincerity or sound argument.

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verb (used with object)

• declaims,
  present (3rd person singular)
• declaimed,
  past participle,  past
• declaiming
  present participle

1. to utter aloud in an oratorical manner.

   to declaim a speech.

declaim British  

/ dɪˈkleɪm /

verb

1. to make (a speech, statement, etc) loudly and in a rhetorical manner

2. to speak lines from (a play, poem, etc) with studied eloquence; recite

3. to protest (against) loudly and publicly

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• declaimer
  noun
• undeclaimed
  adjective
• undeclaiming
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• declaiming
  present
• declaimed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• declaim
  simple
• declaims
  simple
• have declaimed
  perfect
• has declaimed
  perfect
• am declaiming
  progressive
• are declaiming
  progressive
• is declaiming
  progressive
• have been declaiming
  perfect progressive
• has been declaiming
  perfect progressive

Past

• declaimed
  simple
• had declaimed
  perfect
• was declaiming
  progressive
• were declaiming
  progressive
• had been declaiming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will declaim
  simple
• will have declaimed
  perfect
• will be declaiming
  progressive
• will have been declaiming
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of declaim

1350–1400; Middle English declamen < Latin dēclāmāre, equivalent to dē- de- + clāmāre to cry, shout; see claim

Explanation

Use the verb declaim when someone is speaking very passionately against something, like when you declaim against having to be home by 8 p.m. Declaim can also describe reciting words aloud for practice. If you're learning a new language, you might declaim a sentence until it sounds clear and natural when you say it. Declaim was originally spelled declame, similar to the Latin word declamare, meaning "to practice public speaking," but later became declaim as its other meaning came into greater use.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

declaim declaims declaimed declaiming

In songs that wrestle with connection and autonomy, her vocals declaim, sob and gasp; her lyrics blurt out dilemmas and demand responses that may not arrive.

From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2022

Brook loved to declaim that he had no answers, because there are no answers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2022

“The folding type of this cooling device became accepted in China during the Ming dynasty,” Mr. Trebek might declaim, as competitors raced to buzz in with the reply, “What is a fan?”

From Washington Post ● Nov. 8, 2020

You may use this page to declaim loudly, recite verse, or pursue areas of freewheeling, off topic discourse.

From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2020

“Luna, my love, if you should feel any burgeoning talent today—perhaps an unexpected urge to sing opera or to declaim in Mermish—do not repress it! You may have been gifted by the Gernumblies!”

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

“Dennis, you’re wearing the wrong costume,” he declaims proudly.

From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2023

“I’ve been painting up for 25 years,” the 50-year-old declaims, his voice building into a steady rumble.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2023

Of her own content creation, another character declaims, defensively, “It’s creative nonfiction, which is a valid response in an attention economy.”

From Washington Post ● Aug. 9, 2022

Plus, the critic in me is hard-pressed to resist a movie in which a character declaims whole paragraphs of Pauline Kael without explanation.

From Slate ● Dec. 26, 2020

“Fellow Dominicans!” he declaims in a grainy voice.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez

Because many colonists were illiterate, the Declaration was commonly declaimed by local officials in town squares and preachers in pulpits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026

As Weaver's Prospero declaimed "Come forth, I say," Hayley sprang from her seat and rushed the stage with Richard Weir, a 60-year-old mechanical engineer from Tyneside.

From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2025

“Oh Allah make it easy for them to reach there, and bless us with the death of a martyr,” he declaimed, his voice reverberating through the mosque’s loudspeakers.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 13, 2023

Sometimes the interview recordings are played straight, or woven into cacophonous layers; other times, the words are declaimed verbatim by the performers, in Russian and English.

From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2023

After some icy staring about to detect the culprit, and several smothered sniggers from around the room, the little fat friar puffed himself up once more and declaimed firmly: “Grayling à la Redwall.”

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

With Richards’s gnarled, withering guitar lines and Jagger drawling and declaiming, there’s no mistaking the band behind “Foreign Tongues.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

In a totalitarian sci-fi world, a hammer thrown by a young athlete smashes a "Big Brother" figure declaiming to brainwashed citizens from a vast screen.

From Barron's ● Mar. 29, 2026

More often, though, Tallent demonstrates his characters’ precarity rather than declaiming about it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 20, 2026

We passed multiple radar speed signs, declaiming mph numbers, beseeching drivers to slow down.

From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2025

Several mortals have found favor in her circle, but since I have no real skill with a lute or declaiming, I have no chance of being one of them.

From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black

Related Words

• recite