declaim
[dih-kleym]
- 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.
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- to utter aloud in an oratorical manner: to declaim a speech.
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Origin of declaim
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for declaim
Contemporary Examples
It was demanded of psychologists that they declaim on all that screaming and its meaning.
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.
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 DebunkedOlga M. Davidson
September 13, 2012
Experts and negotiators will declaim over the bowl full of details in Obama's Thursday speech.
Yes, dissent is patriotic, as liberals love to declaim, but assent is an important part of patriotism too.
Historical Examples
He questioned me closely, how and where I had learned to declaim.
Gerald FitzgeraldCharles James Lever
Any one can declaim about these things, but I pin my faith to material interests.
Nostromo: A Tale of the SeaboardJoseph Conrad
It is not enough to declaim oneself, or propose continually one's group.
Adventures in the ArtsMarsden Hartley
In conversation he did not tend to declaim or monopolize the talk.
Victorian WorthiesGeorge Henry Blore
Rugge's arm was raised, not indeed to strike, but rather to declaim.
What Will He Do With It, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
declaim
- 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
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for declaim
v.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper