speak up


verb(intr, adverb)
  1. to speak more loudly

  2. to state one's beliefs, objections, etc, bravely and firmly

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use speak up in a sentence

  • One feels inclined to speak up and say, 'Mesdames, entendez—it isn't so bad as you think.'

    Hilda | Sarah Jeanette Duncan
  • Ah, then, you have quarrelled, and I am to speak up for you?

    A Window in Thrums | J. M. Barrie
  • Maybe it is, but I'll speak up if you say the word, and make him set you ashore—even if I leave along with you?

    Blow The Man Down | Holman Day
  • He would speak up boldly, that he would, without fear or favour.

  • The time was certainly here for someone in a position to tell the truth to speak up.

    When Winter Comes to Main Street | Grant Martin Overton

Other Idioms and Phrases with speak up

speak up

Also, speak out. Talk loudly, so as to be heard, as in Speak up, child, I can't hear you, or He should speak out so that those in back can hear him. The first term dates from the early 1700s, the variant from the early 1500s.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.