speaker

¹ American  

[spee-ker] / ˈspi kər /

noun

1. a person who speaks.

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

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

4. 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.

5. a book of selections for practice in declamation.

---

idioms

1. be / not be on speakers, speaking.

Speaker ² American  

[spee-ker] / ˈspi kər /

noun

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

---

speaker ¹ British  

/ ˈspiːkə /

noun

1. a person who speaks, esp at a formal occasion

2. See loudspeaker

---

Speaker ² British  

/ ˈspiːkə /

noun

1. 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

---

Other Word Forms

• nonspeaker noun
• speakership noun

Etymology

Origin of speaker

Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; see origin at speak, -er ¹

Explanation

A speaker is someone who delivers a speech or a device that makes sounds louder. The speaker gave a great speech but you couldn't hear it because the speaker was turned off. Speaker has a few different meanings, from the person who addresses a group, to the piece of equipment that amplifies sound to someone who is fluent in a particular language. For example, a native Spanish speaker can usually tell if someone learned the language in high school because textbooks don't always include the slang and idioms of everyday speech.

Example Sentences

“It should be a great day,” began the event’s first speaker.

From Slate • Apr. 20, 2026

Iranian officials are so far silent on whether their own team, led by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, will return to Pakistan.

From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026

To Liu, items like the speaker are worthy of preservation because some of them are only getting rarer and rarer to find.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026

Some customers have lambasted the bots on social media, while others prefer them to a garbled voice squawking from a speaker box.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

But he’d secretly have his cell phone set on speaker phone in his lap, and he’d call Katherine, who’d be hiding out in the magazine section.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix