speech noun
1 speaking
ADJ. careful, clear, clipped | casual | impaired | slurred She could tell by his slurred speech that he had been drinking. | connected, continuous, fluent | natural, normal, ordinary | spontaneous | direct | indirect, reported | free The demonstrators were demanding rights of assembly and free speech. | conversational, everyday | children's, female, human, etc. | middle-class, working-class, etc.
VERB + SPEECH have Most people have speech, but significantly fewer have writing.
SPEECH + NOUN act | style | defect, impairment, impediment | therapist, therapy | community phonological variation in a speech community
PREP. in ~ Certain grammatical rules must be followed when describing a conversation in reported speech.
PHRASES a figure of speech When we talk about ‘selfish’ genes it is just a figure of speech. | freedom of speech the right of/to freedom of speech | the power of speech He temporarily lost the power of speech after the accident.
2 formal talk
ADJ. brief, little, short | interminable, long, long-winded, rambling | keynote, major | eloquent, excellent, good | emotional, impassioned, rousing, stirring | boring | impromptu | public | televised | political | opening | closing | acceptance, after-dinner, Budget, campaign, conference, farewell, inaugural The prizewinner gave an emotional acceptance speech. the Chancellor's Budget speech | maiden her maiden speech in the House of Commons
VERB + SPEECH deliver, give, make | broadcast His speech was broadcast on national radio. | write
PREP. in a/the ~ | ~ about/on She made a stirring campaign speech on improving the lot of the unemployed. | ~ to In her speech to the House of Commons, she outlined her vision of Britain in the 21st century.
You can also check other dicts: speech (English, 中文解释 ), wordnet sense, Collins Definition