Virtuous English AcademyWays of Speaking — C1 English Vocabulary
This C1 vocabulary list gathers 60 advanced English words about ways of speaking — verbs for every kind of utterance. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
- #C1
- #DailyLife
- #Flashcards
- #Definitions
- #Examples
- #Pronunciation
-
murmur/ˈmɜː.mə/
To speak very quietly.
“They murmur in the back row.”
-
mutter/ˈmʌt.ə/
To speak quietly and unclearly, often in complaint.
“He began to mutter to himself.”
-
stammer/ˈstæm.ə/
To speak with pauses and repeated sounds.
“She started to stammer nervously.”
-
stutter/ˈstʌt.ə/
To repeat sounds when speaking, unable to get words out.
“He tends to stutter when nervous.”
-
babble/ˈbæb.əl/
To talk quickly in a way that is hard to understand.
“The toddlers babble happily.”
-
ramble/ˈræm.bəl/
To talk for a long time in a confused way.
“He tends to ramble for hours.”
-
drawl/drɔːl/
To speak slowly with long vowel sounds.
“She spoke in a slow drawl.”
-
lisp/lɪsp/
To pronounce s and z like th.
“The child has a slight lisp.”
-
vocalise/ˈvəʊ.kə.laɪz/
To express something with the voice.
“Babies vocalise before they speak.”
-
exclaim/ɪkˈskleɪm/
To cry out suddenly in surprise or emotion.
“‘Wonderful!’ they exclaim.”
-
proclaim/prəˈkleɪm/
To announce something publicly and firmly.
“Heralds proclaim the news.”
-
declare/dɪˈkleə/
To say something clearly and officially.
“Judges declare the verdict.”
-
interject/ˌɪn.təˈdʒekt/
To say something suddenly, interrupting.
“May I interject for a moment?”
-
rejoinder/rɪˈdʒɔɪn.də/
A quick, sharp reply.
“She gave a witty rejoinder.”
-
blurt/blɜːt/
To say something suddenly without thinking.
“Try not to blurt out the answer.”
-
intone/ɪnˈtəʊn/
To say something in a slow, even voice.
“The priest began to intone the words.”
-
recite/rɪˈsaɪt/
To say a poem or list aloud from memory.
“Children recite the poem.”
-
recount/rɪˈkaʊnt/
To tell someone about events.
“Veterans recount their stories.”
-
divulge/daɪˈvʌldʒ/
To reveal secret information.
“He refused to divulge the secret.”
-
disclose/dɪsˈkləʊz/
To make secret information known.
“They will not disclose the figures.”
-
allege/əˈledʒ/
To claim something without proof.
“Critics allege corruption.”
-
insinuate/ɪnˈsɪn.ju.eɪt/
To suggest something bad in an indirect way.
“Are you trying to insinuate something?”
-
intimate/ˈɪn.tɪ.meɪt/
To hint at something.
“He tried to intimate his plans.”
-
profess/prəˈfes/
To claim something, often falsely.
“They profess great loyalty.”
-
avow/əˈvaʊ/
To declare something openly.
“They openly avow their beliefs.”
-
attest/əˈtest/
To state that something is true.
“Witnesses attest to his honesty.”
-
testify/ˈtes.tɪ.faɪ/
To give evidence in court.
“She will testify in court.”
-
pontificate/pɒnˈtɪf.ɪ.keɪt/
To speak in a pompous, self-important way.
“He loves to pontificate.”
-
harangue/həˈræŋ/
To speak forcefully and at length at someone.
“He began to harangue the crowd.”
-
preach/priːtʃ/
To give a moral or religious talk.
“She likes to preach to others.”
-
soliloquy/səˈlɪl.ə.kwi/
A speech spoken aloud to oneself in a play.
“The hero delivers a soliloquy.”
-
converse/kənˈvɜːs/
To have a conversation.
“They converse in French.”
-
natter/ˈnæt.ə/
To chat casually for a long time.
“They natter over tea.”
-
prattle/ˈpræt.əl/
To talk on and on about unimportant things.
“The children prattle all day.”
-
hiss/hɪs/
To make a sharp s sound, often in anger.
“‘Quiet!’ they hiss.”
-
bellow/ˈbel.əʊ/
To shout in a deep, loud voice.
“The sergeant began to bellow.”
-
holler/ˈhɒl.ə/
To shout loudly.
“He started to holler across the yard.”
-
shriek/ʃriːk/
To make a loud, high cry.
“She let out a shriek.”
-
wail/weɪl/
To cry out in a long, high, sad voice.
“Mourners began to wail.”
-
groan/ɡrəʊn/
To make a low sound of pain or displeasure.
“He let out a groan.”
-
grumble/ˈɡrʌm.bəl/
To complain in a low voice.
“They grumble about the weather.”
-
whine/waɪn/
To complain in an annoying, high voice.
“Children whine when tired.”
-
coo/kuː/
To speak in a soft, gentle voice.
“She began to coo at the baby.”
-
croon/kruːn/
To sing or speak in a soft, low voice.
“He likes to croon old songs.”
-
chant/tʃɑːnt/
To repeat words or sounds in a rhythm.
“Fans chant the team’s name.”
-
mouth/maʊθ/
To form words with the lips without sound.
“Try not to mouth the words.”
-
enthuse/ɪnˈθjuːz/
To speak with great excitement.
“Fans enthuse about the film.”
-
gush/ɡʌʃ/
To speak with excessive enthusiasm.
“Critics gush over her work.”
-
rave/reɪv/
To speak with wild enthusiasm or anger.
“Reviewers rave about the play.”
-
boast/bəʊst/
To talk with too much pride about yourself.
“He likes to boast about his car.”
-
brag/bræɡ/
To speak too proudly about what you have done.
“She tends to brag about money.”
-
snap/snæp/
To speak in a sudden, sharp, angry way.
“‘No!’ she would snap.”
-
bark/bɑːk/
To give an order in a loud, sharp voice.
“Officers bark orders.”
-
squeal/skwiːl/
To make a long, high sound.
“Children squeal with delight.”
-
utterance/ˈʌt.ər.əns/
Something that is said.
“His every utterance was noted.”
-
verbalise/ˈvɜː.bəl.aɪz/
To express something in words.
“Try to verbalise your feelings.”
-
butt in/ˌbʌt ˈɪn/
To interrupt a conversation rudely.
“Do not butt in while I speak.”
-
herald/ˈher.əld/
To announce or signal that something is coming.
“Trumpets herald the king.”
-
reproach/rɪˈprəʊtʃ/
To express disappointment at someone's behaviour.
“She gave him a look of reproach.”
-
reprimand/ˈrep.rɪ.mɑːnd/
To criticise someone formally for a fault.
“The boss will reprimand him.”
Using ways of speaking words in English
Like the movement verbs, these bundle manner into the verb — but here the manner carries an attitude as well as a sound. Mutter does not simply mean speak quietly; it means speak quietly out of discontent. Choosing among them is one of the most efficient ways to characterise a speaker in writing, which is why fiction relies on them so heavily.
What to watch out for
The quiet verbs carry different attitudes
Murmur is soft and often affectionate or soothing: she murmured a reply. Mutter is equally quiet but discontented, and it is what people do when they do not want to be heard complaining. Babble is rapid and hard to follow. Ramble is lengthy and unstructured, and it is the verb for a speaker who has lost the thread.
Stammer and stutter
Both describe interrupted speech. Stutter emphasises repeating sounds — the classic b-b-but — while stammer covers hesitation and blocking more broadly. British English has traditionally preferred stammer as the clinical term where American English uses stuttering, so both appear in the literature. Used of a single moment, either simply means speaking with nervous difficulty.
The formal announcing verbs, and reported-speech inversion
Exclaim is sudden and emotional; declare is firm and public; proclaim is the most formal and suggests an official announcement. Interject means to insert a remark into someone else’s speech, and a rejoinder is a sharp reply. Note the fiction convention that inverts subject and verb after direct speech: “Never,” said the captain — normal with a noun, but not with a pronoun.
Words learners mix up
Three families do most of the characterising work: how a secret comes out, how loud the voice is, and how much the speaker is enjoying the sound of their own. Each verb encodes a judgement, so choosing one commits you to it.
Letting something out
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| disclose | Makes information known formally, often because a rule requires it. Neutral, and the noun disclosure is standard in law and finance. | Directors must disclose any personal interest. |
| divulge | Reveals something private that you were trusted with. Carries a faint breach of confidence. | She refused to divulge her source. |
| blurt | Says it suddenly and without meaning to. Almost always with out, and always accidental. | He blurted out the answer before thinking. |
| insinuate | Suggests something unpleasant indirectly, so it can be denied. Always hostile. | She insinuated that the figures had been altered. |
| intimate | Hints at something delicately, with no hostility. Stressed on the last syllable as a verb, unlike the adjective. | He intimated that he might stand down. |
The pair worth separating is insinuate against intimate: both are indirect, but only the first is an attack. Allege is different again — it states the accusation openly while marking it as unproven, which is why journalism depends on it.
Raising the voice
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| bellow | Deep, loud and sustained, like a bull. Suggests size and anger rather than panic. | The sergeant bellowed across the yard. |
| holler | A loud call to get attention over a distance. Informal, and markedly American. | Just holler if you need anything. |
| shriek | High, piercing and short. Fear, shock or delight — the pitch, not the emotion, is what the word fixes. | She shrieked when the light went out. |
| wail | Long, high and mournful. Grief or complaint, and it applies to sirens as readily as to people. | A child wailed somewhere behind them. |
| hiss | Quiet but intense — words forced out under the breath in anger. Loudness is not the point at all. | “Sit down,” he hissed. |
Hiss is the odd member: it belongs here by intensity rather than volume, which is exactly why it works so well in dialogue. Note also that squeal has a second, informal sense — to inform on somebody — that has nothing to do with the sound.
Talking too much, and talking down
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| pontificate | Holds forth pompously as though the matter were settled. Always critical, and from the Pope’s title. | He pontificated about a subject he had not studied. |
| harangue | Delivers a long, forceful, critical address at somebody. Aggressive, and it takes a direct object. | She harangued the committee for an hour. |
| preach | Moralises at people who did not ask. Neutral in a religious context, disapproving everywhere else. | Stop preaching and listen for a moment. |
| prattle | Chatters on about nothing. Trivial rather than pompous, and mildly dismissive. | They prattled happily through the whole journey. |
| natter | Chats comfortably and at length. Informal, British, and entirely affectionate. | We nattered for an hour over tea. |
Only natter is kind. The others all judge the speaker, which is why none of them can be used about yourself without irony — nobody says I pontificated. Note the idiom preaching to the converted, meaning arguing a case to people who already agree.
Collocations that sound natural
Several of these verbs have one preposition and refuse all others, and two of them behave unexpectedly with an inanimate subject. These are the frames that actually occur.
boast
boast aboutnothing to boast aboutthe town boasts a cathedral
The surprise is the third: with an inanimate subject, boast loses its arrogance entirely and simply means has, and is proud of. Brag can never do this.
testify
testify in courttestify against somebodytestify to the fact that
Against for a person, to for a fact. Attest to works the same way and is the more formal of the two.
reproach
beyond reproachreproach somebody fora note of reproach
Beyond reproach means so blameless that no criticism is possible. A reprimand is the formal, official version — you issue or receive one.
rave
rave aboutrave reviewsgush aboutenthuse about
All three take about. Rave reviews is fixed and positive, though the verb rave alone can also mean to talk wildly or incoherently.
snap
snap at somebodybark an ordersnap back
Snap at is an irritable reply to a person; bark takes the order itself as its object. The two are not interchangeable.
herald
herald a new erawidely heralded asherald the arrival of
Formal and mostly journalistic: to announce or signal that something important is coming.
Formal, neutral or informal?
This vocabulary is where fiction and journalism live, and almost none of it belongs in an academic essay. Two items also need the same care as any language describing how a person’s body works.
- lisp / drawlDescribe with careA lisp is a speech difference, not a quirk, so describing a real person’s lisp needs a reason. Drawl marks a slow regional accent and often carries class or regional judgement in British writing — usually more about the listener than the speaker.
- natterInformal · BritishWarm and domestic: a good natter. Both verb and noun, and it has no American equivalent with quite the same affection — chat is the neutral choice internationally.
- hollerInformal · AmericanUnderstood in Britain but not native to it; British English says shout or give me a shout. Common in fiction to signal an American voice.
- avow / professFormalAvow is to declare openly and firmly, and survives mainly in avowed: an avowed republican. Profess often carries doubt — he professed to be surprised hints that he was not.
- soliloquyLiterary · technicalA speech in which a character alone on stage voices their thoughts. A term of dramatic criticism, not a word for anyone talking at length — that is a monologue.
- vocalise / verbaliseJargonBoth mean to put into speech, and both appear mostly in psychology, therapy and corporate writing. In ordinary prose say, express or put into words is better.
- mouthTwo sensesAs a verb, to form words silently with the lips: she mouthed “sorry” across the room. It also means to say something insincerely — mouthing platitudes — and the informal mouth off means to talk loudly and rudely.
- coo / croonAffectionateBoth are soft and warm: you coo over a baby and croon a song quietly. Used of adults in a serious context they read as sarcastic.
Sentences to try
Four frames where the verb characterises the speaker. Substitute "said" and see what disappears.
- He muttered something about the timetable and left.
- She murmured an apology and closed the door.
- The chairman interjected before the answer was finished.
- He rambled for twenty minutes without reaching a point.
Questions about ways of speaking vocabulary
What is the difference between murmur and mutter?
Both mean to speak quietly, and the difference is attitude. Murmur is soft and neutral to warm — it suits affection, comfort and confidences: she murmured his name. It is also used of low continuous sound generally: a murmur of conversation. Mutter is quiet and discontented: it is what somebody does when complaining under their breath, and it usually implies they do not want to be heard clearly. He muttered something almost always signals irritation or grudging compliance.
What is the difference between stammer and stutter?
They overlap almost entirely. Stutter tends to emphasise the repetition of initial sounds, while stammer covers a wider range of interruptions including hesitation and blocking. The more significant difference is regional: British English has traditionally used stammer as the standard clinical term, while American English uses stuttering, so both terms appear in speech-therapy literature depending on origin. In ordinary narrative use about a single nervous moment, the two are interchangeable.
Is it correct to write "said the captain" instead of "the captain said"?
Yes — inverting the subject and verb after direct speech is a long-established convention in English narrative: “We leave at dawn,” said the captain. It works with noun subjects and sounds entirely natural. It does not work with pronouns in modern prose: “We leave at dawn,” said he is archaic, and he said is required. Note also that plain said is far less intrusive than elaborate alternatives, so a manner verb should be chosen when it adds real information rather than to avoid repetition.