orator

American  

[awr-uh-ter, or-] / ˈɔr ə tər, ˈɒr- /

noun

1. a person who delivers an oration; a public speaker, especially one of great eloquence.

   Demosthenes was one of the great orators of ancient Greece.

2. Law. a plaintiff in a case in a court of equity.

---

orator British  

/ ˈɒrətə /

noun

1. a public speaker, esp one versed in rhetoric

2. a person given to lengthy or pompous speeches

3. obsolete the claimant in a cause of action in chancery

---

Other Word Forms

• oratorlike adjective
• oratorship noun

Etymology

Origin of orator

1325–75; < Latin ōrātor speaker, suppliant, equivalent to ōrā ( re ) ( oration ) + -tor -tor; replacing Middle English oratour < Anglo-French < Latin, as above

Example Sentences

Handsome and dynamic, an orator with a flair for memorable rhyme, the Rev. Jesse Jackson was the first Black candidate for president to attract a major following.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2026

Melling became Colin, in part, because Lighton liked his work in 2018’s Western “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” where the actor played an orator with no arms or legs.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 10, 2026

King’s “I Have a Dream” speech exemplified his prowess as an orator.

From Barron's • Jan. 19, 2026

Once freed from slavery, Washington toiled in coal mines, worked as a janitor in exchange for formal education and became a great American orator and leader of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

From Salon • Oct. 27, 2025

The Reverend Dameron, a Dickensian personage, an unctuous and jolly brimstone-and-damnation orator, was minister of the Grandview Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kansas, the church the Andrews family attended regularly.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

Related Words

• lecturer
• preacher
• public speaker