orator

[awr-uh-ter, or-]

noun

1. a person who delivers an oration; a public speaker, especially one of great eloquence.

   Demosthenes was one of the great orators of ancient Greece.

2. Law.,  a plaintiff in a case in a court of equity.

orator

/ ˈɒrətə /

noun

1. a public speaker, esp one versed in rhetoric

2. a person given to lengthy or pompous speeches

3. obsolete,  the claimant in a cause of action in chancery

Other Word Forms

• oratorlike adjective
• oratorship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of orator¹

1325–75; < Latin ōrātor speaker, suppliant, equivalent to ōrā ( re ) ( oration ) + -tor -tor; replacing Middle English oratour < Anglo-French < Latin, as above

Example Sentences

I often return to the wisdom of Frederick Douglass, a formerly enslaved person and one of this country’s greatest thinkers and orators.

From Salon

"Traoré is stylish and confident, with a very open face and a small smile. He is also a powerful orator, and presents himself as a man of the people."

From BBC

For someone who had got to see Carney as a cerebral technocrat, a crisis-managing central bank governor a decade ago, the transformation into public orator was quite something.

From BBC

By the 4th century BCE, Athenian orators even quoted lines from the tragedians in court, knowing that jurors “liked quotations from tragedy,” in one scholar’s words.

From Salon

Biden – once regarded as a gifted communicator and orator - appeared less able to connect with the American people.

From BBC

Related Words

• lecturer 
• preacher 
• public speaker www.thesaurus.com