direct speech

esp US direct discourse

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noun

the reporting of what someone has said or written by quoting his exact words

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Words nearby direct speech

direct question, direct-reading, directress, directrix, direct selling, direct speech, direct sum, direct tax, direct-vision prism, direct-vision spectroscope, Diredawa

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

How to use direct speech in a sentence

Those are troubling numbers, for unfettered speech is not incidental to a flourishing society.
How the PC Police Threaten Free Speech|Nick Gillespie|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
There is no such thing as speech so hateful or offensive it somehow “justifies” or “legitimizes” the use of violence.
Trolls and Martyrdom: Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie|Arthur Chu|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
We need to recover and grow the idea that the proper answer to bad speech is more and better speech.
How the PC Police Threaten Free Speech|Nick Gillespie|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Tend to your own garden, to quote the great sage of free speech, Voltaire, and invite people to follow your example.
How the PC Police Threaten Free Speech|Nick Gillespie|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST

The simple, awful truth is that free speech has never been particularly popular in America.
How the PC Police Threaten Free Speech|Nick Gillespie|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Alessandro turned a grateful look on Ramona as he translated this speech, so in unison with Indian modes of thought and feeling.
Ramona|Helen Hunt Jackson
Each religion claims that its own Bible is the direct revelation of God, and is the only true Bible teaching the only true faith.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
And so this is why the clever performer cannot reproduce the effect of a speech of Demosthenes or Daniel Webster.
Expressive Voice Culture|Jessie Eldridge Southwick
He said no more in words, but his little blue eyes had an eloquence that left nothing to mere speech.
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
The steamboat of 1809 and the steam locomotive of 1830 were the direct result of what had gone before.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock