orally

UK: /ˈɔːrəli/

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

o•ral /ˈɔrəl/   adj. 

1. made or expressed by the mouth;
   spoken:
   oral testimony; oral exams.
2. Linguistics of, using, or carried by speech:
   oral teaching methods.
3. Anatomy involving the mouth:
   oral hygiene.

n. [countable] Usually, orals. [plural]

4. an oral examination in a school, college, or university.

o•ral•ly, adv. 

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

o•ral  (ôr′əl, ōr′-), adj. 

1. uttered by the mouth;
   spoken:
   oral testimony.
2. Linguistics of, using, or transmitted by speech:
   oral methods of language teaching; oral traditions.
3. Anatomy of, pertaining to, or involving the mouth:
   the oral cavity.
4. done, taken, or administered through the mouth:
   an oral dose of medicine.
5. Phonetics articulated with none of the voice issuing through the nose, as the normal English vowels and the consonants b andv. 
6. Psychology, Psychiatry
   • of or pertaining to the earliest phase of infantile psychosexual development, lasting from birth to one year of age or longer, during which pleasure is obtained from eating, sucking, and biting.
   • of or pertaining to the sublimation of feelings experienced during the oral stage of childhood:
     oral anxiety.
   • of or pertaining to gratification by stimulation of the lips or membranes of the mouth, as in sucking, eating, or talking
7. Zoology pertaining to that surface of polyps and marine animals that contains the mouth and tentacles.

n. 

8. an oral examination in a school, college, or university, given esp. to a candidate for an advanced degree.

• Latin ōr- (stem of ōs) mouth (cognate with Sanskrit āsya) + -al¹
• 1615–25

o•ral′i•ty, n. 
o′ral•ly, adv. 
Usage

1. See verbal.