noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The aim of a speaker in making an utterance as opposed to the meaning of the terms used.
2. 2
   A type of speech act being made by a speaker, i.e., the purpose of the statement in terms of how the addressee is to interpret either its truth-value, or its requirements and demands upon the speaker in terms of a physical or psychological response.

Example

More examples

"A utters locution B, meaning illocution C, and resulting in perlocution D."

Etymology

From il- (“in”) (an assimilated version of in-) + locution (“speech”), from Latin loquor.

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