speaker

[spee-ker]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR speaker ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person who speaks.

a person who speaks formally before an audience; lecturer; orator.

(usually initial capital letter) the presiding officer of the U.S. House of Representatives, the British House of Commons, or other such legislative assembly.

Also called loudspeaker. an electroacoustic device, often housed in a cabinet, that is connected as a component in an audio system, its function being to make speech or music audible.

a book of selections for practice in declamation.

Idioms

be/not beon speakers, British. speaking(defs 9, 10).

Origin of speaker

Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; see origin at speak, -er¹

Related formsspeak·er·ship, nounnon·speak·er, noun

Speaker

[spee-ker]

noun

Tris(tram E.),1888–1958, U.S. baseball player.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for speaker

lecturer, speechmaker, announcer, rhetorician, mouthpiece, spokesperson, orator, elocutionist, keynoter

Examples from the Web for speaker

Contemporary Examples of speaker

The speaker conjures up centuries of collective sagacity, aligning oneself with an eternal, inarguable good.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead
Luke O’Neil
January 8, 2015
At a press conference today with Scalise, Speaker Boehner again defended him.
The Price of Steve Scalise’s Silence
Jason Berry
January 7, 2015
House rules require an absolute majority of members voting to choose a speaker.
Kamikaze Congress Prepares to Strike Boehner
Ben Jacobs
January 6, 2015
Normally, 434 members (minus Michael Grimm who resigned) would vote for Speaker.
Democrats Accidentally Save Boehner From Republican Coup
Ben Jacobs, Jackie Kucinich
January 6, 2015
If 29 vote for someone else, the race for speaker goes to a second ballot for the first time in almost 100 years.
Kamikaze Congress Prepares to Strike Boehner
Ben Jacobs
January 6, 2015

Historical Examples of speaker

That the speaker was in earnest there could be no manner of question.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
"As empty as an English squire, coz," cried the first speaker.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
"I do suppose Blackbeard's so afraid he don't know how to see," said the first speaker.
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates
Howard Pyle
Mrs. Cummings, the speaker, was no ordinary woman of Western make.
A Woman Tenderfoot
Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson
"We are men of his company and we have news for him," returned the speaker in the sampan.
The Monster Men
Edgar Rice Burroughs

British Dictionary definitions for speaker

speaker

noun

a person who speaks, esp at a formal occasion

See loudspeaker

Derived Formsspeakership, noun

Speaker

noun

the presiding officer in any of numerous legislative bodies, including the House of Commons in Britain and Canada and the House of Representatives in the US, Australia, and New Zealand

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for speaker

c.1300, "one who speaks," agent noun from speak (v.). First applied to "person who presides over an assembly" c.1400, from Anglo-French (late 14c.). In reference to the English Parliament, Sir Thomas de Hungerford apparently was the first.