speak for
Britishverb
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to speak as a representative of (other people)
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to be so evident that no further comment is necessary
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informal (used as an imperative) do not presume that other people agree with you
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Intercede for, recommend, as in He spoke for the young applicant, commending her honesty . [c. 1300]
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Express the views of, as in I can't speak for my husband but I'd love to accept , or I don't care what Harry thinks—Speak for yourself, Joe . [c. 1300]
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speak for itself . Be significant or self-evident, as in They haven't called us in months, and that speaks for itself . [Second half of 1700s]
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spoken for . Ordered, engaged, or reserved, as in This lot of rugs is already spoken for , or Is this dance spoken for? This usage comes from the older verb, bespeak , meaning “to order.” [Late 1600s]
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.
“Unlike our American cousins, we are notoriously bad at talking ourselves up—but the performance … speaks for itself. We expect even greater things to come.”
From Barron's
Voicing an opinion for a university doesn’t necessarily mean speaking for all of its members.
"I do not require middle management," said traitor Hugo, speaking for the nation as he delivered the best line of the episode.
From BBC
Queen Camilla has spoken for the first time publicly about fighting off an attacker on a train when she was a teenager, in an interview broadcast Wednesday.
From Barron's
"We spoke twice. We spoke for 19 minutes before the strike and then we spoke again for another five minutes before it went on," Tuggar said.
From Barron's
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.
