1.NounAn utterance in which one person states what someone else said, but framed as an object within a larger clause without quotation marks (when in written form) and sometimes, but not necessarily, repeating their exact words verbatim.
"She relayed his words as an indirect quotation: she said, "He told us that he wants stronger action to be taken."; He told us that he wants stronger action to be taken; there are no quote marks in this sentence because it contains an indirect quotation."