- 1 a person who gives a talk or makes a speech He was a guest speaker at the conference. She was a brilliant public speaker. The Society has an interesting talk by a visiting speaker every month. Wordfinderconferenceconference, delegate, exhibition, name tag, plenary, register, speaker, talk, venue, workshop Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivebrilliant, good, great, … verb + speakerfeature, invite prepositionspeaker at See full entry
- 2 a person who is or was speaking I looked around to see who the speaker was. A speaker conveys information through tone and body language.
- 3 a person who speaks a particular language Chinese speakers a native speaker of English Synonymsspeakercommunicator gossip talkerThese are all words for a person who talks or who is talking, especially in a particular way.speaker a person who is or was speaking; a person who speaks a particular language:I looked around to see who the speaker was. a fluent Arabic speakercommunicator (rather formal) a person who is able to describe their ideas and feelings clearly to others:The ideal candidate will be an effective communicator.gossip (disapproving) a person who enjoys talking about other people’s private lives:Myra is a dear, but she’s also a terrible gossip.talker a person who talks in a particular way or who talks a lot:He’s a very persuasive talker. She’s a (great) talker (= she talks a lot).speaker or talker? Talker is used when you are talking about how much somebody talks or how well they talk. It is not used for the person who is or was talking:I looked round to see who the talker was. You can say that somebody is a good/persuasive speaker but that means that they are good at making speeches. If you mean that they speak well in conversation, use talker.Patterns a good/great speaker/communicator/talker an effective/excellent speaker/communicator Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivefluent, native, non-native, … prepositionspeaker of See full entry
- 4(the) Speaker the title of the person whose job is to control the discussions in a parliament the Speaker of the House of Commons/Representatives Culturethe Speaker the person who is in charge of debates in the House of Commons. The Speaker decides who speaks in a debate, calls for a vote at the end, and keeps order. He or she is elected by MPs of all the political parties, and must treat all parties fairly during debates. When MPs address the Speaker during a debate, they say 'Mr Speaker' or 'Madam Speaker'. Culturethe Speaker of the House the person who is in charge of most of the activities of the House of Representatives. He or she is responsible for keeping order in debates, for naming the members of committees, and for referring bills to committees. The Speaker of the House is chosen by the party with the majority in the House and is one of their leaders. He or she is addressed as 'Mr Speaker' or 'Madam Speaker'. See related entries: Parliament
- 5 the part of a radio, computer or piece of musical equipment that the sound comes out of a CD player and radio with two ultra-slim speakers see also loudspeaker Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiveleft, right, front, … … of speakerset speaker + nounsystem, phone See full entry See related entries: Radio technology Word Familyspeak verbspeaker nounspeech nounspoken adjective (≠unspoken)Extra examples He makes his living as a motivational speaker. He’s a fluent Arabic speaker. She’s a good public speaker. The computer has built-in stereo speakers. a keynote speaker at the Republican convention a new set of speakers sound effects coming from the rear speakers speakers of English the commencement speaker at my graduation He is a brilliant public speaker. Marina Warner was the keynote speaker at the conference.
noun jump to other results
BrE BrE//ˈspiːkə(r)//; NAmE NAmE//ˈspiːkər//
Parliament, Radio technologyCheck pronunciation: speaker
