Speaking and Listening - Middle School

Listen up! If you want to improve your communication skills, review this list of words related to speaking and listening. Whether you're delivering a speech, giving an informal presentation, or participating in a group discussion, you'll need to know these essential terms.
128 words 72 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. accentuate
    put stress on
  2. acknowledge
    express recognition of the presence or existence of
  3. adapt
    make fit for, or change to suit a new purpose
  4. advocate
    speak, plead, or argue in favor of
  5. agenda
    a list of matters to be taken up, as at a meeting
  6. agreement
    harmony of people's opinions, actions, or characters
  7. analogy
    drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity
  8. anecdote
    short account of an incident
  9. argument
    an assertion offered as evidence that something is true
  10. articulate
    speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way
  11. audience
    the part of the general public interested in something
  12. body language
    communication via the movements or attitudes of the body
  13. claim
    an assertion that something is true or factual
  14. clarification
    an interpretation that removes obstacles to understanding
  15. clarity
    the quality of being coherent and easily understood
  16. coherent
    marked by an orderly and consistent relation of parts
  17. collaborate
    work together on a common enterprise or project
  18. collaboration
    act of working jointly
  19. collaborative
    accomplished by working jointly
  20. collegial
    having authority vested equally among colleagues
  21. common knowledge
    anything generally known to everyone
  22. communicate
    interchange information or ideas
  23. communication
    the activity of conveying information
  24. comparison
    relation based on similarities and differences
  25. concise
    expressing much in few words
  26. conclusion
    the last section of a communication
  27. consensus
    agreement in the judgment reached by a group as a whole
  28. contradiction
    the speech act of opposing someone
  29. contribution
    the part played by a person in bringing about a result
  30. convention
    something regarded as a normative example
  31. courtesy
    a considerate and respectful manner
  32. critical
    characterized by careful evaluation and judgment
  33. critique
    appraise or judge in an analytical way
  34. deadline
    the point in time at which something must be completed
  35. delivery
    characteristic style or manner of expressing oneself orally
  36. demonstrate
    show the validity of something, as by example or explanation
  37. description
    the act of depicting something
  38. descriptive
    serving to inform
  39. disagreement
    a conflict of people's opinions or actions or characters
  40. discussion
    an exchange of views on some topic
  41. elaboration
    addition of extra material or clarifying detail
  42. elicit
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
  43. emphasize
    stress or single out as important
  44. engaging
    attracting or delighting
  45. enunciation
    the articulation of speech with regards to intelligibility
  46. evidence
    knowledge on which to base belief
  47. exchange
    a mutual expression of views (especially an unpleasant one)
  48. express
    communicate beliefs or opinions
  49. expression
    the style of communicating beliefs or opinions
  50. eye contact
    contact that occurs when two people look directly at each other
  51. facial expression
    the feelings expressed on a person's face
  52. fact
    a concept whose truth can be proved
  53. feedback
    response to an inquiry or experiment
  54. formal
    adhering to traditional standards of correctness
  55. format
    the general appearance of a publication
  56. gesture
    motion of hands or body to emphasize a thought or feeling
  57. grammar
    the branch of linguistics that deals with sentence structure
  58. graphics
    photographs or other visual representations in a printed publication
  59. group discussion
    a discussion among participants who have an agreed topic
  60. imply
    express or state indirectly
  61. infer
    conclude by reasoning
  62. inflection
    the patterns of stress and intonation in a language
  63. informal
    having the simple or familiar structure of everyday language
  64. informative
    serving to instruct or enlighten
  65. inquiry
    an instance of questioning
  66. interaction
    mutual or reciprocal dealings or influence
  67. interpret
    make sense of; assign a meaning to
  68. interruption
    an act or event that causes a delay or break in an ongoing activity
  69. interview
    the questioning of a person, often conducted by journalists
  70. interviewer
    a person who conducts an interview
  71. irrelevant
    having no bearing on or connection with the subject at issue
  72. issue
    an important question that is in dispute and must be settled
  73. justify
    show to be reasonable or provide adequate ground for
  74. logic
    reasoned and reasonable judgment
  75. logical
    marked by an orderly and coherent relation of parts
  76. medium
    a means or instrumentality for communicating information
  77. multimedia
    the use of many types of communication simultaneously
  78. nonverbal
    not using spoken or written language to communicate
  79. observation
    a remark expressing careful consideration
  80. opinion
    a personal belief or judgment
  81. oral communication
    (language) communication by word of mouth
  82. oral presentation
    delivering an address to a public audience
  83. outline
    a schematic or preliminary plan
  84. paraphrase
    express the same message in different words
  85. participant
    someone who is involved in an activity
  86. participate
    share in something
  87. perspective
    a way of regarding situations or topics
  88. pertinent
    having precise or logical relevance to the matter at hand
  89. pitch
    the high or low quality of a sound
  90. point of view
    a mental position from which things are perceived
  91. poise
    great coolness and composure under strain
  92. posture
    the arrangement of the body and its limbs
  93. pronunciation
    the manner in which someone utters a word
  94. purpose
    an anticipated outcome that guides your planned actions
  95. quantitative
    expressible as an amount that can be measured
  96. redundant
    repeating the same sense in different words
  97. rehearse
    engage in a rehearsal (of)
  98. relevance
    the relation of something to the matter at hand
  99. relevant
    having a bearing on or connection with the subject at issue
  100. repetition
    the continued use of the same word or word pattern
  101. research
    systematic investigation to establish facts
  102. restate
    to say or perform again
  103. rhetorical device
    a use of language that creates a literary effect
  104. rhetorical question
    an inquiry that is not supposed to be answered
  105. rhythm
    alternation of stressed and unstressed elements in speech
  106. role
    the actions and activities assigned to a person or group
  107. salient
    conspicuous, prominent, or important
  108. speaker
    someone who expresses in language
  109. stance
    a rationalized mental attitude
  110. statement
    a message that is declared
  111. statistic
    a datum that can be represented numerically
  112. style
    a mode of expression typical of a person, group, or period
  113. succinct
    briefly giving the gist of something
  114. summarize
    briefly present the main points of something
  115. summary
    a brief statement that presents the main points
  116. synthesis
    the combination of ideas into a complex whole
  117. synthesize
    combine so as to form a more complex product
  118. teamwork
    cooperative labor done by a group
  119. theme
    the subject matter of a conversation or discussion
  120. time limit
    a time period within which something must be done or completed
  121. tone
    the quality of a person's voice
  122. topic
    the subject matter of a conversation or discussion
  123. transition
    a passage or word that connects a topic to one that follows
  124. verbalize
    express in speech
  125. verify
    confirm the truth of
  126. viewpoint
    a mental position from which things are considered
  127. vocabulary
    a language user's knowledge of words
  128. voice
    the distinctive quality or pitch of a person's speech
Created on Thu Jan 26 13:50:20 EST 2017 (updated Wed Mar 29 15:41:36 EDT 2017)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.