Allocution Definition

ălə-kyo͝oshən
noun
A formal and authoritative speech; an address.
American Heritage
A formal address, esp. one warning or advising with authority.
Webster's New World
A statement that is made by a defendant before a sentence is pronounced.
American Heritage
The procedure during sentencing when a judge gives a convicted defendant the opportunity to make a personal statement on his own behalf to mitigate the punishment that is about to be imposed. The defendant does not have to be sworn before he makes his address, his comments are not subject to cross-examination, and the opportunity may include the right to offer evidence (such as an explanation for his conduct or a reason why severe sentence should not be imposed) beyond a request for mercy or an apology for his conduct.
Webster's New World Law
A similar procedure where the victim of a crime is given in some states the opportunity to personally speak, before punishment is imposed, about the pain and suffering suffered or about the convicted defendant.
Webster's New World Law
Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Allocution

Noun

Singular:
allocution
Plural:
allocutions

Origin of Allocution

  • Latin allocūtiō allocūtiōn- from allocūtus past participle of alloquī to speak to ad- ad- loquī to speak tolkw- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Latin allocūtiō (“address”)

    From Wiktionary

Allocution Sentence Examples

  • The elder begins a fresh allocution by citing Matt.

  • Just as at the third scrutiny the early catechumen passed a last examination in the Gospels, Creed and Lord's Prayer, so after their year of abstinence the credens receives creed and prayer; the allocution with which the elder "handed on" this prayer is preserved, and of it the Abbe Guiraud remarks that, if it were not in a Cathar ritual, one might believe it to be of Catholic origin.

  • With the assistance of their legal representation, they determine allocution of debts, division of assets, custody of minor children, and other important issues.

  • At the end of May the pope, in an allocution to the cardinals, had spoken of Italy in terms of unusual cordiality, and had expressed a wish for peace.

  • The pope, in an allocution of 22nd June 1868, declared that these " damnable and abominable laws " which were " contrary to the concordat, to the laws of the Church and to the principles of Christianity," were " absolutely and for ever null and void."

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Words Starting With

AALALL

Words Ending With

NONION

Unscrambles

allocution

Words Starting With A and Ending With N

Starts With A & Ends With NStarts With AL & Ends With NStarts With A & Ends With ON

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10 Letter Words10 Letter Words Starting With A10 Letter Words Ending With N