Meanings
- uncountableA dramatic vocal style midway between speaking and singing.
The woozy “Black Market Baby” and spooky sprechstimme of “What's He Building?” are prime latter-day Waits, as are a host of other numbers that sound like work songs bellowed down a Tin Pan Alley.
1999 March 20, Bradley Bambarger, Billboard, Innocent When You Dream, Orion Books 2006, page 208Synonyms: Sprechgesang
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA dramatic vocal style midway between speaking and singing.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna style of dramatic vocalization between singing and speaking
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From German Sprechstimme.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Sprechstimme. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sprechstimme
“Sprechstimme.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sprechstimme. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Sprechstimme,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sprechstimme.
Source: Sprechstimme on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.