declamation

/ˈdɛkləˌmeɪʃən/

Other forms: declamations

A declamation is a long, impassioned speech. Your heartfelt declamation to the school board about the quality of food in your school cafeteria may inspire the addition of a salad bar.

Like a tirade or a rant, a declamation has a lot of strong feelings behind it. There's more formality to a declamation, though — imagine a heartfelt and fiery response on a debate stage. The original 14th century definition was "a composition written to be declaimed," or delivered with passion and rhetoric.

Definitions of declamation

1. noun

   recitation of a speech from memory with studied gestures and intonation as an exercise in elocution or rhetoric
   type of:

   reading, recital, recitation

   a public instance of reciting or repeating (from memory) something prepared in advance
2. noun

   vehement oratory
   types:

   broadside, philippic, tirade

   a speech of violent denunciation

   harangue, rant, ranting

   a loud bombastic declamation expressed with strong emotion

   raving

   declaiming wildly

   screed

   a long monotonous harangue

   type of:

   oratory

   addressing an audience formally (usually a long and rhetorical address and often pompous)