soliloquy
noun

- a dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener

- the act of speaking to oneself

(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition)

---
WORD ORIGIN

SOLILOQUY is from the Lower Latin soliloquium, "a talking to oneself," and stems from solus (alone) + loqui (to speak). It was first used in the translation of the Latin "Liber Soliloquiorum," a thesis by Augustine, who is said to have coined the word.

Playwrights such as Shakespeare and Goethe used the SOLILOQUY to great effect in order to reveal their characters' personal thoughts, emotions, and motives without using third-person narration. Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech is one the world's most famous SOLILOQUES. A good example of a modern day SOLILOQUY is the final scene in the science fiction cult film Blade Runner, which is sometimes called the "tears in the rain" speech.

SOLILOQUES may also be referred to as monologues (from the Greek monologos - monos=alone + logos=speech). The monologue is frequently used by late-night talk show hosts to begin their shows and is usually a comedy routine.


---
SYNONYMS

discourse, disquisition, monologue, one-man show, sermon, speech, stand-up bit

---
PRACTICE OWAD TODAY
Say something like:

"Instead of final feedback, the trainer delivered a 30-minute SOLILOQUY about his own company."