inaugural address
18
5.9
- noun
- /ɪˈnɔɡjərəl əˈdrɛs/
- Formal
:
discurso inaugural
- During his inaugural address, the president outlined his vision for the country's future.
- the first inaugural address
- the second inaugural address
- inaugural address by the president
Examples
-
John F. Kennedy summed up the necessary ideal in his 1961 inaugural address.
Academic text (2002) -
Clinton also closed his inaugural address with traditional civil religion rhetoric.
Academic text (1996) -
Did you ever read my inaugural address?
-
"You probably never even read my inaugural address," I said.
Fiction book (1996) -
Perhaps most significant was his inaugural address on 20 May 2000.
Academic text (2002) -
You read President Roosevelt's inaugural address?
-
Our last item up for bid today: The suit in which Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address.
-
In his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln insisted that the fundamental institution of the Constitution was free elections.
Academic text (2002) -
President Bush had just given his second inaugural address, and democracy promotion quickly became the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy.
Academic text (2009) -
In his inaugural address, Barack Obama appealed to each of us to give our best as we try to extricate ourselves from this current financial crisis.
Synonyms
∞
1.8
A formal talk given to an audience to inform or persuade
212
5.3
A formal speech given to a group of people
10
4.4
A main speech at a formal event that sets the tone
6
7.6
A formal speech given at a special event
6
4.2
A main talk at a meeting that gives the event's main idea
5
7.3
A formal speech that a new leader gives at the start of an important event
Antonyms
- Formal
1
8.1
A formal speech by a top student that says goodbye at a graduation ceremony
How Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
Both constituents are semantically clear: 'inaugural' means first/initial and 'address' means an official speech, so the combined meaning 'first/formal speech at the start of an event' is directly derivable. This compositional pattern (e.g., 'discurso inaugural', 'discours inaugural') is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand the MWE.
Etymology
Inaugural address comes from the idea of beginning a leader's time in office: inaugural means 'the start' and address means a formal speech, so the phrase refers to the speech a leader gives at the very beginning of an important event or term.