glossolalia

noun

glos·​so·​la·​lia ˌglä-sə-ˈlā-lē-ə 

ˌglȯ-

: tongue sense 3c

glossolalist

ˌglä-sə-ˈlā-list 

ˌglȯ-

noun

Examples of glossolalia in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Perfect Church incorporated the prophecies and glossolalia of the Pentecostal tradition, while warping them into something more radical. — Guthrie Scrimgeour, Rolling Stone, 16 Mar. 2025

The two bounced off each other in a glossolalia of gassing each other up. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 11 Dec. 2021

In a small but effective artistic choice, characters talk in crackling, subtitled glossolalia, punctuated only by the occasional intelligible word. — Adi Robertson, The Verge, 29 Apr. 2018

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from German Glossolalie, Glossolalia, from glosso- glosso- + Greek laliá "talk, speech" (from laléō, laleîn "to talk, chat"—of onomatopoeic origin— + -ia -ia entry 1), after Greek laleîn glṓssais and variants in the New Testament (as Acts 2:4), conventionally translated "to speak in tongues"

First Known Use

1879, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for glossolalia

• aurelia
• centralia
• galea
• palea

Medical Definition

glossolalia

noun

glos·​so·​la·​lia ˌgläs-ə-ˈlā-lē-ə, ˌglȯs- 

: profuse and often emotionally charged speech that mimics coherent speech but is usually unintelligible to the listener and that is uttered in some states of religious ecstasy and in some schizophrenic states