declamatory

American  

[dih-klam-uh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] / dɪˈklæm əˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /

adjective

1. pertaining to or characterized by declamation.

2. merely oratorical or rhetorical; stilted.

   a pompous, declamatory manner of speech.

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declamatory British  

/ dɪˈklæmətərɪ, -trɪ /

adjective

1. relating to or having the characteristics of a declamation

2. merely rhetorical; empty and bombastic

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Other Word Forms

• declamatorily adverb
• nondeclamatory adjective
• superdeclamatory adjective
• undeclamatory adjective

Etymology

Origin of declamatory

1575–85; < Latin dēclāmātōrius, equivalent to dēclāmā ( re ) ( declaim ) + -tōrius -tory ¹

Example Sentences

Hilson’s performance is of a different register than most of the rest of the cast — haltingly realistic in an otherwise declamatory play.

From Los Angeles Times

The characters speak in dramatic, declamatory French, as if in a 19th-century play, and their costumes range from corseted dresses and shabby tailcoats to power suits and leather jackets.

From New York Times

The draft feels like a café napkin sketch: schematic and brutally declamatory — the dialogue a parody of existentialist theater shouted through a bullhorn.

From Salon

By the mid-1980s, the breakneck and declamatory punk of Bad Brains and Minor Threat seemed to have exhausted itself.

From Washington Post

“Romeo and Juliet” was tackled with a youthful vigor and violence that proved shocking to those expecting the customary declamatory elegance.

From Los Angeles Times