declaim

American  

[dih-kleym] / dɪˈkleɪm /

verb (used without object)

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.

---

verb (used with object)

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

---

Other Word Forms

• declaimer noun
• undeclaimed adjective
• undeclaiming adjective

Etymology

Origin of declaim

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

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

In “Spectacular” he rescues a middling segment called “Downtown Addy’s,” a “Downton Abbey” sendup in which Harlem Renaissance figures like Paul Robeson, Zora Neale Hurston and Adelaide Hall gossip and declaim with mock-aristocratic fatuousness.

From New York Times • Jun. 18, 2020

Obediently Beowulf sat down, and Alexander stepped up to declaim: “Yum, yum. Squirrel! No! No! Yum, yum. Cake? Yes! Yes!”

From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood

Related Words

• recite