declaim

[dih-kleym]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR declaim ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object)

to speak aloud in an oratorical manner; make a formal speech: Brutus declaimed from the steps of the Roman senate building.

to inveigh (usually followed by against): He declaimed against the high rents in slums.

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

verb (used with object)

to utter aloud in an oratorical manner: to declaim a speech.

Origin of declaim

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

Related formsde·claim·er, nounun·de·claimed, adjectiveun·de·claim·ing, adjective

Can be confuseddeclaim disclaim

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for declaim

recite, orate, decry, spout, rail, denounce, declare, spiel, rant, attack, mouth, inveigh, perorate, lecture, proclaim, harangue, speak, bloviate, soapbox

Examples from the Web for declaim

Contemporary Examples of declaim

It was demanded of psychologists that they declaim on all that screaming and its meaning.
‘You’ve Got to Be Kidding’: Why Adults Dismissed The Beatles in 1964
Michael Tomasky
January 30, 2014
It's what is ongoing and visible, so it's the part that people get to judge and assess and gossip about and declaim on.
On Syria, the Public, Process, and Results
Michael Tomasky
September 17, 2013
The word Qur’ān means recitation, coming from the root q-r-‘, which means primarily to recite or declaim and then to read.
Mohammad Was Not a Womanizer, and Other Common Misconceptions About Islam Debunked
Olga M. Davidson
September 13, 2012
Experts and negotiators will declaim over the bowl full of details in Obama's Thursday speech.
Obama's Historic Mideast Gamble
Leslie H. Gelb
May 21, 2011
Yes, dissent is patriotic, as liberals love to declaim, but assent is an important part of patriotism too.
Elena Kagan's Achilles' Heel
Peter Beinart
April 19, 2010

Historical Examples of declaim

He questioned me closely, how and where I had learned to declaim.
Gerald Fitzgerald
Charles James Lever
Any one can declaim about these things, but I pin my faith to material interests.
Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard
Joseph Conrad
It is not enough to declaim oneself, or propose continually one's group.
Adventures in the Arts
Marsden Hartley
In conversation he did not tend to declaim or monopolize the talk.
Victorian Worthies
George Henry Blore
Rugge's arm was raised, not indeed to strike, but rather to declaim.
What Will He Do With It, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for declaim

declaim

verb

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

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

(intr foll by against) to protest (against) loudly and publicly

Derived Formsdeclaimer, noun

Word Origin for declaim

C14: from Latin dēclāmāre, from clāmāre to call out

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for declaim

late 14c., from Middle French déclamer and directly from Latin declamare "to practice public speaking, to bluster," from de- intensive prefix + clamare "to cry, shout" (see claim (v.)). At first in English spelled declame, but altered under influence of claim. Related: Declaimed; declaiming.