speakeasy
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of speakeasy
Explanation
During the time of Prohibition, people who wanted an alcoholic drink had to visit a speakeasy, or an illegal bar. In 1920 the United States began a failed experiment in social engineering, referred to today as Prohibition. Good citizens wasted little time in subverting laws banning the sale and consumption of alcohol by frequenting an establishment called the speakeasy — which, according to one slang lexicographer, may have come from a patron's manner of ordering an alcoholic drink without raising suspicion. The word may also be related to "speak softly shop," the nineteenth century Irish term for a smuggler's den.
Vocabulary lists containing speakeasy
Chapter 13, Sections 1–3
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The Mighty Miss Malone
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Night Owls
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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:
Listening to “The Boutique,” I feel like I should be smoking a cigarette and drinking the dirtiest martini known to man in a speakeasy, wearing a drop waist silk dress and bright red lipstick.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026
"What a place this is!" he gushed, of Invercargill, excitement bursting out of him like he was in some rooftop bar in downtown Tokyo or a speakeasy in the East Village in New York.
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
Back in the speakeasy lounge, guests favor lite fare like charcuterie and pork belly sliders from a menu curated by chef Travis Allen and culinary director Thomas Boemer, a multi-time James Beard award nominee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
American Express likens the 1,500-square-foot lounge, tucked away in a sliver of space past a Kate Spade store and smoking lounge with slot machines, to a speakeasy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
One witness said that they’d stopped, alone, at another speakeasy closer to Fairfax.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Craft bourbon brands built buzz in speakeasies like Louisville’s Hell or High Water, and whiskey influencers started popping up online.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026
The parallels with early 20th century Prohibition in America – gangsters, feminists, minorities, corruption, doctor’s notes, speakeasies and moonshine – are strikingly similar.
From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2025
A second custom Kookaburra space nods to Prohibition-era speakeasies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2024
Designer Gregg Barnes, winning his third Tony, said in an interview that his inspirations included art deco architecture, the Harlem Renaissance and the fashions of 1930s jazz clubs and speakeasies.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 18, 2023
The whites I’d known loved to rub shoulders publicly with black folks in the after-hours clubs and speakeasies.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
