What does "elocution" mean?

The art of speaking, especially public speaking, with expert control of gesture and voice, diction (articulation and word choice), and usage.

What is a synonym for "elocution"?

Common synonyms include: accent, accents, chatter, comment, conversation, debating.

Pronounced //ɛləˈkjuːʃən//.

//ɛləˈkjuːʃən// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The art of speaking, especially public speaking, with expert control of gesture and voice, diction (articulation and word choice), and usage. countable, uncountable
"perfect elocution"
2
an expert manner of speaking involving control of voice and gesture wordnet

"She took elocution lessons to improve her public speaking."

From Middle English elocucioun, ellocucioun, from Late Latin ēlocutiōnem. Doublet of elocutio.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.