Meanings
comparative more declamatory · superlative most declamatory
- Having the quality of a declamation.
- Pretentiously lofty in style; bombastic.
Behind him an excitable Frenchman was holding forth in declamatory style to a group of astonished residents.
1908, R. Forsythe, “Our Hippopotamus Hunt”, in The Wide World Magazine, volume XX, London: George Newnes, Ltd., page 4001 more example
He is described as having spoken for nearly an hour with great confidence in a highly declamatory tone, and with studied action, impressing all present who had ever heard of Cicero or Hortensius with the belief that he had worked himself up into the notion of being one or both of them for the occasion.
1880, Henry James Nicoll, “Miscellaneous”, in Great Scholars. Buchanan, Bentley, Porson, Parr and Others., Edinburgh: Macniven & Wallace, page 204
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Equivalent to declaim + -atory.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Greek απαγγελτικός
- απαγγελτικός (apangeltikós)like a declamation
Swedish deklamatorisk
- deklamatorisklike a declamation
Cite this entry
declamatory. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/declamatory
“declamatory.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/declamatory. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “declamatory,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/declamatory.
Source: declamatory on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.