soliloquy

WOTD - 25 May 2007    

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• enPR: səlĭlʹəkwē, IPA: /səˈlɪləkwi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

soliloquy (plural soliloquies)

1. (drama) The act of a character speaking to himself so as to reveal his thoughts to the audience.

   At the end of the second act the main villain gave a soliloquy detailing his plans to attack the protagonist.

2. A speech or written discourse in this form.
   • 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XI, page 135:

     The feeling of Singleton's bosom grew heightened in its tone of melancholy, and a more passionate emphasis of thought broke forth in his half-muttered soliloquy:— ¶"How I remember as I look […]

Usage notes

Primarily used of theater, particularly the works of William Shakespeare, as a term of art, particularly for finely-crafted speeches. An archetype is the “To be or not to be” soliloquy in Hamlet. In informal speech or discussions of popular culture, the term monologue is used instead, generally in a pejorative sense, suggesting that the speaker is a self-centered boor who won’t shut up.

Synonyms

• (speech or written discourse): monologue

Antonyms

• (discourse of a single person): colloquy, dialogue, dialog

Hypernyms

• locution
• oration

Derived terms

• soliloquist
• soliloquize

Related terms

• solo, solitude
• locution – see other terms on same loquor root

Translations

act of a character speaking to himself

Afrikaans: alleenspraak (af) Catalan: soliloqui (ca) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 獨白 (zh), 独白 (zh) (dúbái) French: soliloque (fr) m. German: Selbstgespräch (de) n.

Icelandic: eintal (is) n., einræða (is) f. Japanese: 独り言 (ja) (ひとりごと, hitorigoto), 独白 (ja) (どくはく, dokuhaku) Russian: монолог (ru) (monológ) m. Spanish: soliloquio (es) m. Swedish: monolog (sv) Welsh: ymson (cy) m.

speech or written discourse in this form

Catalan: soliloqui (ca) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 獨白 (zh), 独白 (zh) (dúbái) French: soliloque (fr) m., monologue (fr) m. German: Selbstgespräch (de) n., Monolog (de) m.

Icelandic: eintal (is) n., einræða (is) f., einræða persónu (is) f. Japanese: 独白 (ja) (どくはく, dokuhaku) Russian: монолог (ru) (monológ) m. Spanish: soliloquio (es) m.

See also

• apostrophe
• stage whisper

Verb

soliloquy (third-person singular simple present soliloquies, present participle soliloquying or soliloquing, simple past and past participle soliloquied)

1. (very rare) To issue a soliloquy.

Synonyms

• soliloquize (much more common)