declamation

American  

[dek-luh-mey-shuhn] / ˌdɛk ləˈmeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the act or art of declaiming.

2. exercise in oratory or elocution, as in the recitation of a classic speech.

3. speech or writing for oratorical effect.

4. Music. the proper enunciation of the words, as in recitative.

---

declamation British  

/ ˌdɛkləˈmeɪʃən /

noun

1. a rhetorical or emotional speech, made esp in order to protest or condemn; tirade

2. a speech, verse, etc, that is or can be spoken

3. the act or art of declaiming

4. music the artistry or technique involved in singing recitative passages

---

Etymology

Origin of declamation

1350–1400; < Latin dēclāmātiōn- (stem of dēclāmātiō ), equivalent to dēclāmāt ( us ) (past participle of dēclāmāre to declaim; -ate ¹ ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

Previous Lincoln scholars have treated the Lyceum Speech more as an outburst than an oration, at best the overwrought declamation of a gifted tyro.

From The Wall Street Journal

He stretched language and banality to operatic extremes, exalting discarded bits of life as if they were cosmic, in stylized declamation that is every bit as musical as Mozart.

From New York Times

As this druid high priestess, caught in a forbidden love triangle with a Roman soldier and a fellow priestess, Yoncheva can be forceful in declamation — the singing that’s more like speechifying.

From New York Times

At Weill, it emerged with earth-rumbling intensity, as Tines wrapped his luscious voice around its punishing declamations with athletic fervor.

From New York Times

The English songwriter and producer Sipho Ndhlovu revels in drama and desperation, with a voice that regularly leaps between grainy declamation and a tearful falsetto.

From New York Times