One of the mysteries of the English language finally explained.
1A public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled.‘a theatrically effective orator’
speaker, public speaker, speech-maker, lecturer, declaimer, rhetoricianView synonyms
- ‘Lecturing to the packed Images Theatre and in a subsequent on-stage interview with the Peak, he showed himself to be a skilled orator as he challenged prevailing ideology.’
- ‘The miniature was a gift from the forty-year-old artist to her famous and frequent client, the orator and public servant Daniel Webster.’
- ‘At the UN, it doesn't matter whether you speak only French and the orator is waxing eloquent in Chinese.’
- ‘The eloquent orator far prefers to work from a few scribbled notes rather than stick to a pre-prepared speech.’
- ‘It is not because one had awful speakers and the other superb orators.’
- ‘Lincoln was a skilled orator, brilliant at fashioning American constitutionalism into a rhetorical sword that could save the Union.’
- ‘In the years since, Atlas has carved a name for himself as one of the most eloquent orators on the sport.’
- ‘At that time the name was given to the professional orators, who appeared in public with great pomp and delivered declamations either prepared beforehand or improvised on the spot.’
- ‘A great orator and man of the theatre, Jimmy won many awards in drama festivals during the fifties and sixties, winning the best actor award on more than one occasion.’
- ‘James Dillon in his heyday was about the only orator of modern times to match such eloquence.’
- ‘Those French orators engaged in the real matters of public concern address the king and the great nobles either from the pulpit or in parliament.’
- ‘An attractive orator and accomplished trial lawyer, Edwards can now effectively compete for the nomination.’
- ‘He was a skilled orator and yet a three-hour speech (not uncommon) left his listeners with memories of just a few sentences.’
- ‘Instead, in the form of a symposium with other orators, he elaborates on the qualities of an effective speaker and an effective speech.’
- ‘Both were highly effective orators, but with markedly different techniques.’
- ‘Public speeches by master orators were also very popular as a performing art.’
- ‘They were skilled orators, inspired and inspiring interpreters of scripture, and miracle workers.’
- ‘The prophet is a speaker, an orator, a preacher.’
- ‘One of the Democratic Party's greatest orators argued, ‘We are not for propagating philanthropy at the point of the bayonet.’’
- ‘Chief Seattle, a Suquamish Indian who lived on the Puget Sound outside the city that bears his name, was a skilled diplomat and a great orator.’
- 1.1 An official speaking for a university on ceremonial occasions.
- ‘Ascham himself taught Latin, Greek, and logic, being also university public orator, and, though seemingly always subject to health and money difficulties, sought wider responsibilities.’
- ‘It was, in the felicitous words of Oxford University's orator, that in his years at the Navy Office he had ‘encompassed Britain with wooden walls’.’
- ‘Her life achievements were outlined by the university's public orator, Professor Vivian de Klerk.’
Late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French oratour, from Latin orator ‘speaker, pleader’.
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