public speaking
Whenever someone gets up in front of a group and gives a talk, that's public speaking. If you dislike public speaking, you might not want to be a college professor or a politician.
Simply put, public speaking is speaking in public — especially if you're giving a well-planned speech to an audience. Some public speaking is done to entertain people, but it can also persuade an audience (to vote for you, for example) or educate them. You can also call this type of speaking oration or oratory. There's evidence that students studied public speaking as far back as ancient Egypt.
Definitions of public speaking
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delivering an address to a public audience
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synonyms:
oral presentation, speaking, speechmaking
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types:
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reading, recital, recitation
a public instance of reciting or repeating (from memory) something prepared in advance
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debate, disputation, public debate
the formal presentation of a stated proposition and the opposition to it (usually followed by a vote)
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declamation
recitation of a speech from memory with studied gestures and intonation as an exercise in elocution or rhetoric
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reading, recital, recitation
Pronunciation
US
/ˌpəblɪk spikɪŋ/
UK
/ˈpəblɪk ˈspikɪŋ/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘public speaking'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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