oratory
noun
skill or eloquence in public speaking.
oratory
1 American
[awr-uh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee, or-]
/ ˈɔr əˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i, ˈɒr- /
noun
-
skill or eloquence in public speaking.
The evangelist moved thousands to repentance with his oratory.
- Synonyms:
- declamation, delivery, rhetoric
-
the art of public speaking, especially in a formal and eloquent manner.
oratory
2
American
[awr-uh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee, or-]
/ ˈɔr əˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i, ˈɒr- /
noun
-
oratories
plural
-
a place of prayer, as a small chapel or a room for private devotions.
-
(initial capital letter) any of the religious societies of secular priests who live in religious communities but do not take vows.
Oratory
1
British
/ -trɪ, ˈɒrətərɪ /
noun
-
Also called: Congregation of the Oratory. the religious society of secular priests ( Oratorians ) living in a community founded by St Philip Neri
-
any church belonging to this society
the Brompton Oratory
oratory
2
British
/ ˈɒrətərɪ, -trɪ /
noun
-
the art of public speaking
-
rhetorical skill or style
oratory
3
British
/ -trɪ, ˈɒrətərɪ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of oratory1
1580–90; < Latin ōrātōria, noun use of feminine of ōrātōrius of an orator. See orator, -tory 1
Origin of oratory2
1300–50; Middle English < Late Latin ōrātōrium place of prayer. See orator, -tory 2
Explanation
An oratory is a long, formal speech. Often one that's a bit puffy and overblown, making you think the speaker really likes the sound of his own voice. Oratory is from the Latin word oratorius for "speaking or pleading." In fact, oratories often leave audiences pleading for an end to the speech. They're the kind of thing evangelical preachers are good at. An oratory is also a little chapel, from the Latin oratorium for "a place of prayer," or a specific group of Roman Catholics, who name their oratories after where they're built, like the Brooklyn Oratory.
Vocabulary lists containing oratory
Speech and Debate
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President Obama's Speech on the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington
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myPerspectives 9.3
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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:
Perhaps Mr. Pinsker grants Lincoln too little credit for inspiring voters with his soaring oratory; even the canonical speeches are analyzed here primarily for political messaging.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
His gift for oratory could energize all kinds of people, including workers, presidents and other heads of state.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2025
They were masterpieces of political oratory not despite their lack of weighty marble-clad phrases but because of it.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2024
Her 40-minute speech was not exactly the soaring oratory that the Obamas delivered earlier in the week, but the euphoria and confidence in the arena was palpable.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2024
From Cicero onward, it has been conventional to divide up the business of oratory into five basic parts—sometimes known as the “canons of rhetoric.”
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
Pupils from Scoil Mhuire formed a guard of honour outside St Mary's Oratory in Buncrana before family members arrived.
From BBC ● May 17, 2025
The More Oratory Reveals Only Nothingness bill to encourage legislators to sit down and listen once in a while.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 29, 2021
The Oratory of San Lorenzo on Via Immacolatella in Palermo is surrounded by a tangle of streets so narrow and twisty that I got quite close to the building without seeing it.
From New York Times ● Sep. 23, 2020
The ceremony will be screened all over the world, including at the Oratory and Bilston Holy Trinity Catholic Church in the West Midlands.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2019
He stops running at the steps of St. Catherine’s Oratory, where he sits down and takes out his steaming, battered prize, leaving a trail of gravy on his shirt.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
She would go off on these different speech oratories.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2023
The Vatican has already shut down St Peter's Square and St Peter's Basilica while allowing only a small number of oratories in convents and monasteries to remain open.
From Fox News ● Mar. 13, 2020
Almost half of the oratories came from President Bill Clinton, who went on a two-term coffin fit by speaking at 26 funerals between 1994 and 2001.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 31, 2018
The diocese of Brescia near Milan, he said, has 400 priests, 408 oratories and 426 soccer fields.
From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2010
In this case the long passage was outside the congeries of habitations, and was lighted on two floors by the windows of the recesses before alluded to as having been the oratories of past generations.
From Notes on Old Edinburgh by Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy) Bird
Definitions 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.
