MEANING
To speak or recite loudly and rhetorically, especially as a performance.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- declaim a speech
- declaim verses
On the page
He declaimed the verses to an audience of empty chairs.
She began to declaim before anyone had asked for an explanation.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- declaim
- Past tense
- declaimed
- Past participle
- declaimed
- Present participle
- declaiming
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- declaim
- Present continuous
- am/is/are declaiming
- Present perfect
- have/has declaimed
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been declaiming
- Past
- declaimed
- Past continuous
- was/were declaiming
- Past perfect
- had declaimed
- Past perfect continuous
- had been declaiming
- Future
- will declaim
- Future continuous
- will be declaiming
- Future perfect
- will have declaimed
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been declaiming
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: declaim; declaims; declaimed; declaimed; declaiming Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: declaims.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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