2the spoken wordspokenlanguage rather than written language or music 〔相对于书面语言或音乐而言的〕口头话语
pupils’ understanding of the spoken word
小学生对口头话语的理解
a spoken-word CD
讲读版光碟
Examples from the Corpus
the spoken word• But the power of X-Clan is not the spoken word.• Hal could do this when necessary, but most of his communication with his shipmates was by means of the spoken word.• Large halls ideal for music can be too reverberant for the spoken word.• Other symptoms of dyslexia can include difficulty in writing, calculating or even understandingthe spoken word.• The most important bias of dictionaries is to the written rather than the spoken word.• During secondaryeducation, the use of the spoken wordincreases.• He showed a little smile, as if only the spoken word might perk his interest.
3quietly/softly-spokenSPEAK A LANGUAGEBritish EnglishBrEspeaking in a quiet way 说话轻轻的/柔和的
a softly-spoken young man
一个说话温柔的年轻人
4be spoken for
a)MARRYif someone is spoken for, they are married or already have a seriousrelationship with someone 已结婚;有恋人
b)KEEP/STOREif something is spoken for, you cannot buy it because it is being kept for someone else 〔商品〕已预留给〔某人〕
Examples from the Corpus
be spoken for• But all of the money is spoken for.• Contest ends when all ticketsare spoken for.• Most of your capitalis spoken for, and the creditors are closing in.• Though they were spoken for my benefit, I could not be assumed to share the same norms.• When the words were spoken for the third time, however, the divorce was irrevocable.
spoken used about the language that people speak rather than write
Spoken English is often less formal than written English.
I can understand classical Arabic but not spoken Arabic.
oral an oraltest is one in which you have to speak rather than write. Oral is also used about culture, traditions, and history that are based on spoken English rather than being written down
We had a 15-minute oral exam in German.
Anglo-Saxon stories and poems were part of a largely oral culture.