An elaborate discourse, delivered in public, treating an important subject in a formal and dignified manner; especially, a discourse having reference to some special occasion, as a funeral, an anniversary, a celebration, or the like; - distinguished from an argument in court, a popular harangue, a sermon, a lecture, etc.; as, Webster’s oration at Bunker Hill.
To deliver an oration.
The act or art of declaiming; rhetorical delivery; haranguing; loud speaking in public; especially, the public recitation of speeches as an exercise in schools and colleges; as, the practice declamation by students.
A set or harangue; declamatory discourse.
Pretentious rhetorical display, with more sound than sense; as, mere declamation.