əˈdɹɛs dɪˈlɪv(ə)ɹi ˈlɛk.t͡ʃə ˈlɛk.t͡ʃɚ ˈspiːtʃ wɜːdz the mental faculty or power of vocal communication language sets homo sapiens apart from all other animals a lengthy rebuke a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline the teacher gave him a talking to words making up the dialogue of a play the actor forgot his speech 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 (language) communication by word of mouth his speech was garbled he uttered harsh language he recorded the spoken language of the streets the exchange of spoken words they were perfectly comfortable together without speech something spoken he could hear them uttering merry speeches the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience he listened to an address on minor Roman poets