idiom

noun id·i·om \ ˈi-dē-əm \

|Updated on: 1 Jun 2018

Editor's Note: The Makeup of idioms

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

See idiom defined for English-language learners

See idiom defined for kids

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

Those of us of a certain vintage can recall when an institution that was only slightly less white than the British monarchy — Broadway — was also a beneficiary of African-American idioms.

— don aucoin, BostonGlobe.com, "An exuberant journey down the yellow brick road in ‘The Wiz’," 22 May 2018
One of the incongruities in Colorado’s marijuana business is how professionals new to the trade adopt the Mendocino idiom without either irony or any particular reverence, the way their clothes absorb the plant’s scent after a few hours on site.

— robb mandelbaum, New York Times, "Where Pot Entrepreneurs Go When the Banks Just Say No," 4 Jan. 2018
For Southern moms, those life lessons often come in the form of unique and sometimes confusing sayings and idioms.

— daniela sternitzky-di napoli, Houston Chronicle, "Quirky lessons and phrases Southern moms say," 9 May 2018
The Osbornes, who wrote all of the songs with Nashville collaborators including Kendell Marvel, Travis Meadows and Shane McAnally, relish tweaking traditional country idioms.

— jewly hight, New York Times, "Brothers Osborne Want to Bring Guitar Heroes Back to Nashville," 12 Apr. 2018
The city has long had a non-country undercurrent, but with such acts as Jack White, Kings of Leon and Meghan Trainor propelling the storyline, Music City has had a burst of new energy from other idioms.

— tom roland, Billboard, "Grammys Reflect Country Music's In And Out-Of-The-Box Thinking," 23 Jan. 2018
None of the proper nouns in the headlines would be familiar to most Americans, but the idiom itself is as comfortable and well-worn as your favorite yoga pants: Are the memes actually hilarious?

— alexis c. madrigal, The Atlantic, "An Indian Politician Claimed Ancient Hindus Invented the Internet," 24 Apr. 2018
Almost every 'white' musical idiom has black origins.

— randy lewis, latimes.com, "Taylor Swift ignites Twitterverse with new version of Earth, Wind & Fire's 'September'," 19 Apr. 2018
Every single person on the planet has a unique idiom, and the big challenge is trying to discover that.

— WSJ, "RuPaul, Curtis Sittenfeld and More on Identity," 26 Mar. 2018

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

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

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;

Phrases

figure of speech;

Other Grammar and Linguistics Terms

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

IDIOM Defined for English Language Learners

idiom

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.