When you speak, you use your voice in order to say something.

When someone speaks to a group of people, they make a speech.

If you speak for a group of people, you make their views and demands known, or represent them.

If you speak a foreign language, you know the language and are able to have a conversation in it.

People sometimes mention something that has been written by saying what the author speaks of .

If two people are not speaking, they no longer talk to each other because they have quarrelled.

If you say that something speaks to you of a quality, experience, or feeling, you mean that it is evidence of it or expresses it.

If you say that something speaks for itself, you mean that its meaning or quality is so obvious that it does not need explaining or pointing out.

If you say 'Speak for yourself' when someone has said something, you mean that what they have said is only their opinion or applies only to them.

If a person or thing is spoken for or has been spoken for, someone has claimed them or asked for them, so no-one else can have them.

If you say that actions speak louder than words, you mean that people's actions show their real attitudes, rather than what they say. This expression is sometimes used to advise a person to do something positive.

Nothing to speak of means 'hardly anything' or 'only unimportant things'.

You can use not to speak of when adding something which your previous statement also applies to, or applies to even more than other things.

If you speak well of someone or speak highly of someone, you say good things about them. If you speak ill of someone, you criticize them.

You use so to speak to draw attention to the fact that you are describing or referring to something in a way that may be amusing or unusual rather than completely accurate.

If you are on speaking terms with someone, you are quite friendly with them and often talk to them.