dialect
noun
di·a·lect
ˈdī-ə-ˌlekt 
often attributive
1
linguistics
a
: a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language
the Doric dialect of ancient Greek
a dialect of Chinese spoken in Hong Kong
b
: one of two or more cognate (see cognate entry 1 sense 3a) languages
French and Italian are Romance dialects
c
: a variety of a language used by the members of a group
such dialects as politics and advertising—
Philip Howard
Philip Howard
d
: a variety of language whose identity is fixed by a factor other than geography (such as social class)
spoke a rough peasant dialect
f
: a version of a computer programming language
2
: manner or means of expressing oneself : phraseology
Examples of dialect in a Sentence
They speak a southern dialect of French.
The author uses dialect in his writing.
The play was hard to understand when the characters spoke in dialect.
Recent Examples on the Web
Oh yeah, my dad speaks this specific dialect called Taishanese, and one of the waiters spoke it.
—James Factora, Them., 27 Oct. 2025
This, tech writer Jasmine Sun believes, is revealed in the emerging dialect of Silicon Valley tech workers.
—Darian Woods, NPR, 27 Oct. 2025
But Simeon Silverio, former publisher of the San Diego Asian Journal, said Bayani reflects only one of many Filipino dialects and would fail to represent the country’s diverse cultural groups, each of which has its own word for hero.
—Walker Armstrong, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Oct. 2025
Even something as simple as the Chicago dialect and John Gacy’s individual odd, idiosyncratic way of speaking.
—Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dialect
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James Factora, Them., 27 Oct. 2025
This, tech writer Jasmine Sun believes, is revealed in the emerging dialect of Silicon Valley tech workers.
—Darian Woods, NPR, 27 Oct. 2025
But Simeon Silverio, former publisher of the San Diego Asian Journal, said Bayani reflects only one of many Filipino dialects and would fail to represent the country’s diverse cultural groups, each of which has its own word for hero.
—Walker Armstrong, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Oct. 2025
Even something as simple as the Chicago dialect and John Gacy’s individual odd, idiosyncratic way of speaking.
—Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dialect
Cite this Entry
“Dialect.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialect. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
dialect
noun
di·a·lect
ˈdī-ə-ˌlekt
1
: a regional variety of a language differing from the standard language
2
: a variety of a language used by the members of a particular group or class
peasant dialect
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