idiom

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noun id·i·om \ ˈi-dē-əm \

Updated on: 24 Jul 2017

Definition of idiom

1 a :the language peculiar to a people or to a district, community, or class :dialect

b :the syntactical, grammatical, or structural form peculiar to a language

2 :an expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either grammatically (such as no, it wasn't me) or in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (such as ride herd on for "supervise")

3 :a style or form of artistic expression that is characteristic of an individual, a period or movement, or a medium or instrument

the modern jazz idiom

; broadly :manner, style

a new culinary idiom

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Examples of idiom in a Sentence

She is a populist in politics, as she repeatedly makes clear for no very clear reason. Yet the idiom of the populace is not popular with her. —P. J. O'Rourke, New York Times Book Review, 9 Oct. 2005
And the prospect of recovering a nearly lost language, the idiom and scrappy slang of the postwar period … —Don DeLillo, New York Times Magazine, 7 Sept. 1997
We need to explicate the ways in which specific themes, fears, forms of consciousness, and class relationships are embedded in the use of Africanist idiom … —Toni Morrison, Playing in the Dark, 1992
The expression “give way,” meaning “retreat,” is an idiom.
rock and roll and other musical idioms
a feature of modern jazz idiom

Recent Examples of idiom from the Web

Just for clarity — both ‘burying the hatchet’ and ‘off the table’ are idioms.

— miamiherald, "He says his post about burning his son’s school in outrage was sarcasm. Now he’s banned," 19 Aug. 2017
Muslet was born in Palestine but aggressively inhaled the idiom and drawled speech of his teenage years in Florida.

— matt wolfe, New Republic, "Why did Yousef Muslet face life in prison for an everyday gesture?," 2 Aug. 2017
All these musical idioms, says Brown, require at least one factor.

— howard reich, chicagotribune.com, "Andy Brown and the Zen of mainstream jazz," 18 July 2017
Such shades highlight the historic structure’s classic American bones while flipping the idiom on its head.

— nancy hass, ELLE Decor, "House Tour: John Robshaw's Vibrant Connecticut Country Home Is Totally Anti-Color Scheme," 7 July 2017
Yes, a reedist who specializes in traditional, swing and bebop idioms — in other words, repertoire and stylistic practices from before the 1970s — hardly can keep up with requests for his musical services.

— howard reich, chicagotribune.com, "Saxophonist Eric Schneider finds his groove," 6 July 2017
However, the last three decades have seen a plethora of bland, insipid American compositions in wishy-washy tonal idioms infect our concert halls.

— christian hertzog, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Neglected masterpiece by Samuel Barber resurrected by David Chase for his farewell LJS&C concert," 11 June 2017
Ken allowed, then posed the idea again, more slowly, mindful of idioms and the fact that Java Mongoose might not translate.

— elisabeth egan, chicagotribune.com, "Algren Award finalist: "Errata" by Carol Keeley," 10 June 2017
In other words, Comey, here, is an employee who is blowing the whistle, to use the idiom, on his former boss.

— philip bump, Washington Post, "There’s no indication Comey violated the law. Trump may be about to.," 9 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'idiom.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The Makeup of idioms

If you had never heard someone say "We're on the same page," would you have understood that they weren't talking about a book? And the first time someone said he'd "ride shotgun", did you wonder where the gun was? A modern English-speaker knows thousands of idioms, and uses many every day. Idioms can be completely ordinary ("first off", "the other day", "make a point of", "What's up?") or more colorful ("asleep at the wheel", "bite the bullet", "knuckle sandwich"). A particular type of idiom, called a phrasal verb, consists of a verb followed by an adverb or preposition (or sometimes both); in make over, make out, and make up, for instance, notice how the meanings have nothing to do with the usual meanings of over, out, and up.

Origin and Etymology of idiom

Middle French & Late Latin; Middle French idiome, from Late Latin idioma individual peculiarity of language, from Greek idiōmat-, idiōma, from idiousthai to appropriate, from idios

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1588

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idiom Synonyms

Synonyms

expression, phrase

Related Words

cliché (also cliche); locution, term; epithet, expletive, name; byword, cry, motto, shibboleth, slogan, watchword; archaism, colloquialism, euphemism, modernism, neologism, provincialism, vulgarism

Other Grammar and Linguistics Terms

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

IDIOM Defined for English Language Learners

idiom

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noun

Definition of idiom for English Language Learners

: an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but that has a separate meaning of its own
: a form of a language that is spoken in a particular area and that uses some of its own words, grammar, and pronunciations
: a style or form of expression that is characteristic of a particular person, type of art, etc.