FromLatinallocūtiō(“address”).
allocution (countable anduncountable,pluralallocutions)
- Aformalspeech, especially one which is regarded asauthoritative andforceful.
1904,Joseph Conrad, chapter 2, inNostromo:The Minister of War, in a barrack-squareallocution to the officers of the artillery regiment he had been inspecting, had declared the national honour sold to foreigners.
- (chiefly US, law) Thequestion put to aconvicteddefendant by ajudge after the rendering of theverdict in atrial, in which the defendant is asked whether he or she wishes to make a statement to thecourt beforesentencing; the statement made by a defendant in response to such a question; thelegalright of a defendant to make such a statement.
1997, Caren Myers, “EncouragingAllocution at Capital Sentencing: A Proposal for Use Immunity”, inColumbia Law Review,vol. 97, no. 3, p. 788 n6:The term "allocution" refers to the personal right of a defendant to make a statement on his own behalf in an attempt to affect sentencing. . . . The word "allocution" is also frequently used . . . to describe the statement made by a defendant during a guilty plea proceeding.
- (chiefly US, law) Thelegalright of avictim, in somejurisdictions, to make a statement to a court prior to sentencing of a defendant convicted of acrime causinginjury to that victim; the actual statement made to a court by a victim.
1989, Karen L. Kennard, “The Victim's Veto: A Way to Increase Victim Impact on Criminal Case Dispositions”, inCalifornia Law Review,vol. 77, no. 2, p. 427 n49:As of July, 1985, 19 states permitted victimallocution at the sentencing phase of criminal trials.
- (Roman Catholicism) Apronouncement by apope to an assembly of church officials concerning a matter of churchpolicy.
2004, Thomas Shannon, James Walter, “Implications of the PapalAllocution on Feeding Tubes,”, inThe Hastings Center Report, volume34, number 4, page18:The recent papalallocutionTo the International Congress on Life-Sustaining Treatment and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas has been the occasion for much discussion concerning the use of artificial feeding tubes for nutrition and hydration.
- (communication, media) The mode ofinformationdissemination in which mediabroadcasts are transmitted to multiplereceivers with no or very limited capability of a two-way exchange of information.
- 1993, I. Th. M. Snellen and Wim B. H. J. van de Donk (eds.),Public Administration in an Information Age,→ISBN,p. 198 (Google preview):
- Allocution is the dissemination of information by a central unit towards a collectivity of decentral units, the central unit being both the source and the determining actor.
2008, Christina Spurgeon,Advertising and New Media,→ISBN,page 5:Bordewijk and van Kaam describe the one-to-many architecture of modern broadcast mass media as ‘allocution’. This is the least responsive type of interactivity because it is not designed to support exchanges. . . . The one-way flow of information is under the programmatic control of the media service provider.
formal, authoritative speech
- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
- Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.
Learned borrowing fromLatinallocūtiō.
allocution f (pluralallocutions)
- (short)speech
2023 August, Ulrike Lune Riboni, “Sans les images ?”, inLe Monde diplomatique, page28:À ce titre, le président de la République a souligné le 30 juin dernier, dans uneallocution depuis la cellule interministérielle de crise, le « rôle considérable » de Snapchat et TikTok dans les soulèvements des quartiers populaires qui on suivi la mort de Nahel Merzouk[…]- (pleaseadd an English translation of this quotation)
