Gettysburg Address

American  

noun

1. the notable short speech made by President Lincoln on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the national cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa.

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Gettysburg Address British  

noun

1. history the speech made by President Lincoln at the dedication of the national cemetery on the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg in Nov 1863

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Gettysburg Address Cultural  

1. A speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Lincoln was speaking at the dedication of a soldiers' cemetery at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. The opening and closing lines are particularly memorable: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…. [We must] be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth.”

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Lincoln surprised his audience at Gettysburg with the brevity of his speech. He delivered the Gettysburg Address, which lasted about three minutes, after a two-hour speech by Edward Everett, one of the leading orators of the day.

Example Sentences

In his book on the Gettysburg Address, Garry Wills judged the address “comic,” “showy” and “labored.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 7, 2025

On Nov. 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the greatest speeches in American history, the Gettysburg Address.

From Slate • Sep. 5, 2025

During these conversations, Takei says his father would quote Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2025

Takei recalled how his father taught him how the government “of the people, by the people and for the people,” as Abraham Lincoln put it in his Gettysburg Address, could also prove a weakness.

From Seattle Times • May 29, 2024

“Oh, I did,” I agreed, remembering how Elliot had tried over and over again to help me remember the important information about the Gettysburg Address with limited success.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin