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soliloquy
[suh-lil-uh-kwee]
noun
plural
soliloquiesan utterance or discourse spoken to oneself, without regard for whether any other hearers are present (often used as a device in drama to disclose a character's innermost thoughts).
Hamlet's soliloquy begins with “To be or not to be.”
the act of talking while or as if alone.
soliloquy
/ əˈɪəɪ /
noun
the act of speaking alone or to oneself, esp as a theatrical device
a speech in a play that is spoken in soliloquy
Hamlet's first soliloquy
Usage
51Թ History and Origins
Origin of soliloquy1
51Թ History and Origins
Origin of soliloquy1
Example Sentences
How fitting, then, that my friend Steve recalled the Stage Manager’s most famous soliloquy.
That moment almost demands a fiery extended soliloquy, not the rushed version on offer.
The reason for repeatedly doing so isn’t ever made clear and feels as jarring as suddenly cutting away from a fight scene or a soliloquy.
“God save the most judgmental creeps who say they want what’s best for me,” she sings, “Sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see.”
The thunderous rhetoric, which crowds out introspective soliloquy, moves into Broadway power ballad territory when emotions run high.
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When To Use
A soliloquy is a speech spoken to no one but oneself, even if other people are around. The word is most often used to describe such a speech in a play.In a play, a soliloquy is performed alone, regardless of whether there are other actors present on the stage. Soliloquies are typically used to let the audience hear a character’s inner thoughts. In terms of theater, a soliloquy is different from a monologue, which is also a long speech, but is part of a conversation with someone else.Example: The most famous soliloquy in theater is perhaps the one from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which begins “To be, or not to be, that is the question.”
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