Skip to main content
orally

orally

6 3.3
To say something rather than write it
  • adverb
  • /ˈɔrəli/
translation icon : oralmente
  • And these were stories that have been told orally by lots of people for for generations.
  • presented orally
  • communicate orally
  • transmitted orally

And sometimes if you can't be persuasive orally, your writing may be persuasive.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Ms. Gomez then asked her students to orally summarize their posters to establish a class claim.

    Academic text (2013)
  • Teachers responded to the items orally, while staff members immediately recorded answers on the response forms.

    Academic text (1993)
  • To get credit, you have to deliver it orally.

  • As a whole class, students might orally practice the construction of an argument.

    Academic text (2015)
  • The student will show the hour on the clock, as instructed orally by the teacher.

    Academic text (1992)
  • You pass on your teachings orally.

  • Choose one testimony from your group to be presented orally before the transportation committee.

    Academic text (1992)
  • And they were passed down orally for a while before they were written down after Muhammad's death.

  • With practice, these students quickly were able to orally explain using manipulatives how to add fractions.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Ms. Gomez then asked her students to orally summarize their posters to establish a class claim.

Synonyms

aloud
vsorally
114 1.0

In a voice that other people can hear

focuses on speech versus writing rather than on audibility
verbally
vsorally
58 3.0

Using spoken words rather than writing

is the same idea phrased differently
by word of mouth
vsorally
4 3.5

People tell others instead of writing

is the same spoken action but not restricted to person to person spread
viva-voce
vsorally
  • Formal
8.9

Spoken rather than written

is the same meaning but often appears in different wording

Antonyms

99 2.6

Someone writes it on paper or in a document instead of saying it

Surface Forms

orally positive

Morphology

orally = oral (transparent) = oral + ly

The adverb is a regular derivation from the adjective 'oral' (spoken), with '-ly' forming manner adverbs.

Etymology

Orally comes from a Latin root meaning 'mouth', written os/oris, and is the same root in oral and orator, people who speak. So to do something orally is to do it 'by spoken words'.