programming language
noun
plural programming languages
: any of various languages (see language sense 1c) used to create computer programs
Programming languages are the foundation of software development, allowing developers to create applications, websites, and systems through computer-understandable instructions.—
geeksforgeeks.org
geeksforgeeks.orgMost software engineers do far more than churn out code, designing products, choosing programming languages, troubleshooting problems and gathering feedback from users.—Steve Lohr
Steve LohrMaintaining the system is getting harder because it relies on a computer programming language (COBOL) that fewer and fewer programmers know.—David Zubler
compare assembly language, machine language, natural language sense 2
David ZublerExamples of programming language in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The stock dropped 13% in a single day in February after artificial intelligence model builder Anthropic said AI could assist companies with modernizing code written in the COBOL programming language.
—Jordan Novet, CNBC, 22 Apr. 2026
An agent can run an entire analytical pipeline in three programming languages simultaneously and flag where the results diverge.
—John Drake, Forbes.com, 21 Apr. 2026
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Jordan Novet, CNBC, 22 Apr. 2026
An agent can run an entire analytical pipeline in three programming languages simultaneously and flag where the results diverge.
—John Drake, Forbes.com, 21 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Programming language.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/programming%20language. Accessed 30 Apr. 2026.
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