Peroration

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pÉ›rɒˈreɪʃən/Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Origin

Adopted from the Latin perōrō ("I speak at length, I conclude a speech") + -ation("action (nominalizer)"), from Latin -ātiō; from per- ("very") + ōrō ("I speak, I orate") (English orate).

Full definition of peroration

Noun

1. The concluding section of a discourse, either written or oral, in which the orator or writer sums up and commends his topic to his audience, particularly as used in the technical sense of a component of ancient Roman oratorical delivery.
• 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.20:This passage is virtually the peroration of the Ethics; the few paragraphs that follow are concerned with the transition to politics.
• 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 480:The young man achieved perfect timing, for the last word of his peroration coincided with the muffled clap of the doors closing, after having launched the coffin onto the rails of a subterranean railway.
2. A discourse or rhetorical argument in general.
• circa 1598 William Shakespeare, King Henry VI Part II, act 1, sc. 1:Nephew, what means this passionate discourse,This peroration with such circumstance?

Related terms

• oration