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.

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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

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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

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

From Barron's

We know Augustine in a way that we do no other ancient individual except perhaps Cicero, the Roman orator of the late Republic whose writings were required texts for centuries of schoolboys.

From The Wall Street Journal

He was the namesake of the boxer later known as Muhammad Ali, whose ancestors had been enslaved by the white Cassius’s cousin Henry Clay, the antebellum orator and senator.

From The Wall Street Journal

The greatest of the Roman orators, Cicero was known for his long and carefully plotted sentences that did not reveal their full meaning until the very last word.

From Literature

Therein lies a dilemma, because Franco was not an especially compelling orator or a magnetic, mercurial personality after the fashion of Hitler, Mussolini and, you know, others we could name.

From Salon

Related Words

• lecturer
• preacher
• public speaker