declamatory

American  

[dih-klam-uh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] / dɪˈklæm əˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /

adjective

1. pertaining to or characterized by declamation.

2. merely oratorical or rhetorical; stilted.

   a pompous, declamatory manner of speech.

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declamatory British  

/ dɪˈklæmətərɪ, -trɪ /

adjective

1. relating to or having the characteristics of a declamation

2. merely rhetorical; empty and bombastic

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Other Word Forms

• declamatorily adverb
• nondeclamatory adjective
• superdeclamatory adjective
• undeclamatory adjective

Etymology

Origin of declamatory

1575–85; < Latin dēclāmātōrius, equivalent to dēclāmā ( re ) ( declaim ) + -tōrius -tory ¹

Explanation

If you say something declamatory, it's full of passion and bluster, like your declamatory speech in debate club about the poor nutritional quality of your school's lunches. Things that are declamatory are strongly felt and expressed with intensity, and they're usually spoken aloud (and loudly). Sometimes this adjective has negative connotations, implying bluster and bombast: "Your essay is so long and declamatory, I felt like I was being shouted at by a showoff." Something declamatory can be called a declamation. The Latin root, declamare, means "to practice public speaking."

Example Sentences

Hilson’s performance is of a different register than most of the rest of the cast — haltingly realistic in an otherwise declamatory play.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2023

The draft feels like a café napkin sketch: schematic and brutally declamatory — the dialogue a parody of existentialist theater shouted through a bullhorn.

From Salon • Mar. 5, 2023

Despite the added tension, the series is made with a dedication to keeping things from getting too sensational, too declamatory, too actorish.

From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2022

Abraham Lincoln understood this, channeling his love for theater while refining his own declamatory style; Winston Churchill’s greatest creation might have been the beloved and respected World War II leader known as Winston Churchill.

From Washington Post • Apr. 8, 2020

Contemporary with Rotrou were other dramatic writers of considerable dramatic importance, most of them distinguished by the faults of the Spanish school, its declamatory rodomontade, its conceits, and its occasionally preposterous action.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 2 "French Literature" to "Frost, William" by Various