(language) communication by word of mouth
"his speech was garbled"
"he uttered harsh language"
"he recorded the spoken language of the streets"
your characteristic style or manner of expressing yourself orally
"his manner of speaking was quite abrupt"
"her speech was barren of southernisms"
"I detected a slight accent in his speech"
a lengthy rebuke
"a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"
"the teacher gave him a talking to"
The faculty of uttering articulate sounds or words; the ability to speak or to use vocalizations to communicate.
"After losing her voice from singing too loudly, she worried that a serious illness had stolen her speech forever."
In plain English: Speech is the act of using your voice to say words and communicate with other people.
"The president gave a speech to celebrate the end of the war."
To make a speech; to harangue.
"The crowd grew restless as the candidate continued his speech, refusing to address their urgent questions about the new policy."
In plain English: To speak aloud using your voice to say something.
"She decided to speak up during the meeting instead of remaining silent."
Usage: Use this verb when someone formally addresses an audience, such as delivering remarks at a ceremony or event. It is often interchangeable with giving a talk but specifically implies standing before listeners rather than speaking casually in conversation.
The word "speech" comes from Old English spǣċ and originally meant discourse or language before traveling into Middle English as speche. Its ultimate roots lie in a Proto-Indo-European term for making a sound, which also gave rise to related words like the German Sprache and Dutch spraak.