Speechifyings

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Engaging in lengthy or grandiloquent verbal addresses; delivering formal, often pompous, spoken statements to an audience ; making speeches in a manner suggesting verbosity or self-importance
2. The act of giving extended, showy oral presentations; producing formal or inflated spoken communications ; expressing oneself in speech with excessive elaboration or pretension
3. Making public utterances marked by elaborate, high-flown language; reciting lengthy, ceremonious speeches to listeners ; lecturing or orating with an air of self-importance or exaggeration

Etymology: "Speechifyings" is simply the plural of "speechifying", the gerund-style noun formed from the verb "speechify". The verb is built from "speech" and the suffix "-ify", a pattern that turns a noun into a verb meaning to make or treat something in a certain way, with the sense here of delivering speeches. So the root idea is straightforward: to speechify is to turn one's talk into speechmaking, and the plural names several such performances.

Synonyms: orating, preaching, sermonizing

Antonyms: listening, silence