as in speech
the art of speaking in public eloquently and effectively
the oft-told story that he practiced elocution by learning to speak with a mouth full of pebbles
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Recent Examples of elocution
Elizabeth—with her precise elocution, her terrifying and obvious sincerity—sounded like a woman on the brink of a great cosmic battle.
—
Emily Harnett, Harper's Magazine, 26 Apr. 2024
Rosetta was unusually anxious about public speaking, so she was given elocution lessons.
—Anita Gates, New York Times, 14 Oct. 2023
Would elocution stand a chance if it were formally reintroduced into the school curriculum today?
—Robert Klose, The Christian Science Monitor, 3 July 2023
The recordings also capture Bell’s family background in elocution (his father, grandfather, and brother all taught the subject).
—IEEE Spectrum, 30 Apr. 2018
See All Example Sentences for elocution
Emily Harnett, Harper's Magazine, 26 Apr. 2024
Rosetta was unusually anxious about public speaking, so she was given elocution lessons.
—Anita Gates, New York Times, 14 Oct. 2023
Would elocution stand a chance if it were formally reintroduced into the school curriculum today?
—Robert Klose, The Christian Science Monitor, 3 July 2023
The recordings also capture Bell’s family background in elocution (his father, grandfather, and brother all taught the subject).
—IEEE Spectrum, 30 Apr. 2018
See All Example Sentences for elocution
Recent Examples of Synonyms for elocution
Noun
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King Charles’s historic address to Congress on Tuesday has already been hailed as one of the most important speeches of his reign.—
Katie Nicholl,
Vanity Fair,
29 Apr. 2026
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Most campuses earned failing grades for their speech climates.—
Jason Jewell,
Sun Sentinel,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Others are former legacy news anchors, who have gained traction by slinging challenging oratory.—
Brian Steinberg,
Variety,
20 Apr. 2026
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The Catholic Church’s work with young people in Italy largely relies on oratories, parish spaces where children and teenagers gather after school for sports and recreational activities.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
24 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Framed as a platform for addressing inequality, climate change and the rise of right-wing political movements, yet the rhetoric coming from it has raised questions in Washington and across the region about whether a more coordinated political counterweight to the United States is taking shape.—
Armando Regil Velasco,
FOXNews.com,
25 Apr. 2026
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People have been called pedants since the early modern period—pedante is a fifteenth-century Italian coinage for a professional teacher of Latin literature and rhetoric—but have been acting pedantically for millennia.—
Clare Bucknell,
The New York Review of Books,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Prior customer service and public speaking experience preferred.—
News Release,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
5 Mar. 2026
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Summitt implored her to take a public speaking course.—
Rebecca Shore Winn,
Southern Living,
18 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Elocution.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/elocution. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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