Meanings
plural oratiuncles
- rareshort speech or oration
I was persuaded to go up the tower & propose his health in a French oratiuncle, visited the exhibitions, and made the speeches.
1889, William Gladstone, quoted in H. C. G. Matthew, Gladstone 1809-1898, published 1997, page 5682 more examples
As he was his friends chief Advocate he thinks it his duty to become Oratour, therefore in two or three ſhort and ſweet oratiuncles (each of which might have been Printed by F. S. for a Speech of a Noble Peer of the Realm) he exhorts them to make the ſame worthy choiſe […]
1681, White Kennett, A Letter from a Student at Oxford to a Friend in the Country Concerning the Approaching Parliament, in Vindication of His Majesty, the Church of England and University, pages 3–4[…] one or other of the two had risen, and in a short, plain, unvarnished oratiuncle, told the company that the thing must be done, and why […]
1832, John Wilson, “Noctes Ambrosianæ”, in Blackwood’s Magazine, volume 32, page 393
Origin
- Latinōrātiuncula
- Englishoratiuncle
Borrowed from Latin ōrātiuncula, from ōrātiō (“speech”) + -uncula (feminine diminutive suffix).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
oratiuncle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oratiuncle
“oratiuncle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oratiuncle. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “oratiuncle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oratiuncle.
Source: oratiuncle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.