orator
Americannoun
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orators
plural
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a person who delivers an oration; a public speaker, especially one of great eloquence.
Demosthenes was one of the great orators of ancient Greece.
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Law. a plaintiff in a case in a court of equity.
noun
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a public speaker, esp one versed in rhetoric
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a person given to lengthy or pompous speeches
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obsolete the claimant in a cause of action in chancery
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of orator
1325–75; < Latin ōrātor speaker, suppliant, equivalent to ōrā ( re ) ( see oration) + -tor -tor; replacing Middle English oratour < Anglo-French < Latin, as above
Explanation
A person giving a speech is called an orator, like the gifted orator who raised excellent points, making everyone in the audience want to join his revolution. The noun orator traces back to the Latin word orare, meaning to “speak before a court or assembly, plead.” Orator is really just a formal way of saying “speaker.” Technically, you can use it to describe anyone who is giving a speech, whether it’s a speaker at the United Nations or a classmate giving a short presentation. However, orator often implies that the speaker is particularly gifted.
Vocabulary lists containing orator
100 Top "SAT" Words
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Ancient Greece - Introductory
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"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave" Vocabulary from the autobiography
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
From Ossoff, he learned how to braid in being an intellectual and polished orator, how debate-club tactics can work as long as you eschew the tie and show an inch of clavicle.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2026
“Her Private Hell” is not merely glittering debris, as some have posited, nor is it style over substance; it’s a campfire story told by Thatcher’s unearthly orator, with just as much chilling impact.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
Though the powerful 19th-century editor Horace Greeley did so, his former employee and future competitor, Henry J. Raymond, started off as a pro-Whig orator, writer and editor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
A gifted orator, Jackson articulated the frustrations of those who felt like second-class citizens in the world's most prosperous democracy.
From BBC ● Feb. 17, 2026
The Roman orator Cicero considered her both rude and offensive.
From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby
Both Jackson and Collins have reputations not as expert orators chasing the political spotlight, but as workhorses focused on getting results.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
While Mr. Perl-Rosenthal skillfully charts the public philosophy of the orators, the story feels somewhat incomplete without lingering on the man who effectively codified their dissent into a national creed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
Luckily, he’s a once-in-a-generation political talent himself and one of the greatest orators in modern life.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2024
“It is here where he would begin his career as one of the most renowned orators of the 19th century.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 14, 2024
Like more of the great orators than one cares to mention, Cicero was not a naturally dominating presence.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
