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soliloquy

UK/səˈlɪləkwi/US/səˈlɪləkwi/
nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,054 of 15,258neutral

A soliloquy is a speech made aloud by a character who is alone. A famous soliloquy.

The audience hears what nobody on stage does, which is the whole device. A soliloquy is not an aside, since an aside is short and spoken past other characters.

Thomas Francis Dicksee · Public domain

Definitions of soliloquy

  1. 1nounsoliloquyA speech made aloud by a character who is alone.B2+

    “The soliloquy in the third act is the only time he tells the truth.”

soliloquy is a speech.

Where it comes from

Latin soliloquium is solus, alone, plus loqui, to speak, and was coined by Saint Augustine.

  1. Latin

    sōliloquium

  2. English, today

    soliloquy

Built from

  • sōlus · Latin — only, sole
  • loquor · Latin — to speak

1595–1605; From Latin sōliloquium in the title of St. Augustine's Soliloquiorum libri duo ("Two Books of Soliloquies"), from sōlus (“only, sole”) + loquor (“to speak”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

soliloquy in the wild

  • The soliloquy became especially prominent during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, when playwrights used it as a means to explore complex human emotions and ethical dilemmas.

    Soliloquy

  • An aside is usually a brief comment rather than a speech, such as a monologue or soliloquy.

    Aside

  • Critic Mark Rowlands described it as "perhaps the most moving death soliloquy in cinematic history", and it is commonly viewed as the defining moment of Hauer's acting career.

    Tears in rain monologue

  • "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" is the beginning of the second sentence of a soliloquy in William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth.

    Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

  • Seyton then tells Macbeth of Lady Macbeth's death, and Macbeth delivers this soliloquy as his response to the news.

    Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the sōlus family

solosole

soliloquy — used about once every 11,558 pages · #12,054 · point at the bar for the others