language

lan·guage

noun \ˈlaŋ-gwij, -wij\

Definition of LANGUAGE

1

a : the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community b (1) : audible, articulate, meaningful sound as produced by the action of the vocal organs (2) : a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings (3) : the suggestion by objects, actions, or conditions of associated ideas or feelings <language in their very gesture — Shakespeare> (4) : the means by which animals communicate (5) : a formal system of signs and symbols (as FORTRAN or a calculus in logic) including rules for the formation and transformation of admissible expressions (6) : machine language 1

2

a : form or manner of verbal expression; specifically : style b : the vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or a department of knowledge c : profanity

3

: the study of language especially as a school subject

4

: specific words especially in a law or regulation

language table

Examples of LANGUAGE

1. How many languages do you speak?
2. French is her first language.
3. The book has been translated into several languages.
4. He's learning English as a second language.
5. a new word that has recently entered the language
6. the formal language of the report
7. the beauty of Shakespeare's language
8. She expressed her ideas using simple and clear language.
9. He is always careful in his use of language.

Origin of LANGUAGE

Middle English, from Anglo-French langage, from lange, langue tongue, language, from Latin lingua — more at tongue

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to LANGUAGE

Synonyms: lingo, mother tongue, speech, tongue, vocabulary

Related Words: acrolect; argot, cant, colloquial, dialect, idiolect, idiom, jargon, parlance, patois, patter, pidgin, slang, slanguage, vernacular; colloquialism, localism, provincialism, regionalism, shibboleth, vernacularism; terminology; coinage, modernism, neologism

see all synonyms and antonyms

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Other Grammar and Linguistics Terms

ablaut, allusion, anacoluthon, diacritic, gerund, idiom, infinitive, metaphor, semiotics, simile

Rhymes with LANGUAGE

slanguage