How to Use oratory in a Sentence

oratory

noun
  • Has the Academy still not learned how to bring such oratory to a close?
    — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2022
  • Her oratory rose and fell in cycles, then climbed to a final crescendo.
    — Kevin Lee, The New Republic, 8 Aug. 2022
  • There will be no stirring oratory about how America doesn't have red or blue states.
    — John Blake, CNN, 15 Aug. 2021
  • Mythical scenes form as if spoken to life from some ancient oratory.
    — Vulture, 7 Mar. 2023
  • Biden’s impressive oratory capped off a four-day exercise in sleight of hand.
    — Matthew Continetti, National Review, 21 Aug. 2020
  • But those seemed better suited to people who wanted to win hearts and minds through stirring oratory.
    — Eli Durst, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
  • The bald and burly Foster was Edwards’ equal in neither style nor oratory.
    — Kevin McGill, Star Tribune, 4 Oct. 2020
  • Mario Cuomo’s charisma and oratory could carry the day in his heyday.
    — Philip Elliott, Time, 11 Aug. 2021
  • Many describe him as stoic, someone whose voice rarely wavers and whose oratory won’t long be remembered.
    — Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 Aug. 2021
  • American politicians have not been notable for the power of their oratory.
    — Joseph Epstein, WSJ, 4 June 2021
  • Like the oratory, the monument to Lee was hyperbolic—in this case, in scale.
    — Carolina A. Miranda, The New York Review of Books, 27 Apr. 2022
  • Where both violence and oratory are involved, convincing ardor is needed, but not yet in their reach.
    — Jesse Green, New York Times, 15 Nov. 2022
  • Maybe the most brilliant two-minute oratory in television history.
    — Nick Canepacolumnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 June 2022
  • German politicians, Merkel is aware, have reason to beware soaring oratory.
    — New York Times, 25 Oct. 2021
  • The petition said Parker excelled in debate and oratory in White schools.
    — Ray Sanchez, CNN Money, 15 Nov. 2025
  • But that same skill could prove a problem in the top job, in which oratory and charisma are important traits in order to communicate a message to the public.
    — Emiko Jozuka, Joshua Berlinger and Will Ripley, CNN, 14 Sep. 2020
  • Hamer signed up and, through her courage, charisma, and oratory, quickly drew ardent disciples and ruthless adversaries.
    — Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vanity Fair, 15 June 2026
  • Sofia De La Cruz won a state championship in original oratory.
    — Ed Wittenberg, cleveland, 17 Mar. 2022
  • That oratory milestone appears in Rustin, but from the perspective of the title character.
    — Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Sep. 2023
  • Others are former legacy news anchors, who have gained traction by slinging challenging oratory.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 20 Apr. 2026
  • King’s ability to take ideas from White preachers’ bland sermons and convert them to stirring oratory was part of his genius, Miller says.
    — John Blake, CNN Money, 18 Jan. 2026
  • So for two years, Hitler lived on the streets and practiced his oratory and body language and how to connect with the masses, and then went on to lead a life that got him into history books.
    — Frank Niceley, Harper’s Magazine , 22 June 2022
  • Barack Obama was known for his soaring oratory, but also his insularity and aloofness.
    — Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey and Maeve Reston, Anchorage Daily News, 15 Mar. 2023
  • Teddy Roosevelt drew hundreds of thousands for his July Fourth oratory.
    — Calvin Woodward, Fortune, 4 July 2023
  • He soon got involved in trade-union politics, organizing protests outside factories and displaying a gift for oratory.
    — Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2023
  • Mackenzie exerted that control using his pulpit – and his charismatic oratory both in his church in Malindi and online.
    — David McKenzie, CNN, 19 June 2023
  • But Truss’ public performance to date has been somewhat stiff and formal, short on the kind of stirring oratory at which both Blair and Johnson excelled.
    — Christina Boyle, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2022
  • Gilbert, for instance, enjoyed sending up the polysyllabic pomposity of the English oratory of his day.
    — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 23 May 2022
  • Inches from Okananwa’s face, Frese delivered a vehement oratory to the junior.
    — Devon Henderson, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2026
  • But if Churchill's thesis on the power of oratory is correct, then history is likely to assign outsized credit to the role Zelensky's words have played.
    — Bill McGowan and Juliana Silva, CNN, 21 Mar. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'oratory.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: