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

These sound particularly good in Morgan’s mouth, with his non-actory, declamatory way of speaking.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2026

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 • Jun. 2, 2023

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

From Washington Post • Jan. 18, 2023

“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 • Jul. 3, 2022

There never was a collection of more glaring contradictions, more gaudy sophisms, than the youthful orator's declamatory harangue.

From Secret History of the Court of England, from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth, Volume II (of 2) Including, Among Other Important Matters, Full Particulars of the Mysterious Death of the Princess Charlotte by Hamilton, Lady Anne