as in language
the stock of words, pronunciation, and grammar used by a people as their basic means of communication
although the anthropologist could speak the local language fairly well, she was always glad to find someone who shared her mother tongue
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Recent Examples of mother tongue
Many countries offer visas for language learning, which are student visas specifically designed for people interested in studying the mother tongue of a destination.
—
Solo Travel, AFAR Media, 14 Aug. 2025
One way is to compare related words in languages arising from a common ancestor, which brings us to the hypothetical mother tongue scholars call Proto-Indo-European.
—Martha Barnette
august 6, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2025
Advertisement Erdogan lifted the ban on Kurdish language, allowed the Kurds to teach in their mother tongue, and set up radio and television networks to broadcast in Kurdish.
—Ragip Soylu, Time, 18 July 2025
About three-quarters of Singapore’s residents claim Chinese descent and, at the same time, English is its mother tongue and business lingua franca.
—Kevin West, Travel + Leisure, 16 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for mother tongue
Solo Travel, AFAR Media, 14 Aug. 2025
One way is to compare related words in languages arising from a common ancestor, which brings us to the hypothetical mother tongue scholars call Proto-Indo-European.
—Martha Barnette
august 6, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2025
Advertisement Erdogan lifted the ban on Kurdish language, allowed the Kurds to teach in their mother tongue, and set up radio and television networks to broadcast in Kurdish.
—Ragip Soylu, Time, 18 July 2025
About three-quarters of Singapore’s residents claim Chinese descent and, at the same time, English is its mother tongue and business lingua franca.
—Kevin West, Travel + Leisure, 16 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for mother tongue
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother tongue
Noun
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One of the most basic versions is a progressive relaxation technique, a countdown from 10 to 1 where Perri uses what are known as hypnotic language patterns.—
Rustin Dodd,
New York Times,
23 Oct. 2025
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The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.—
Madison E. Goldberg,
PEOPLE,
23 Oct. 2025
Noun
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These acts of radical playfulness—the inflatable dance parties, the music, the absurdity—have become part of the city’s moral vocabulary.—
MSNBC Newsweek,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Oct. 2025
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There's also critical thinking, vocabulary, and knowledge that books offer students.—
Anna Kaufman,
USA Today,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
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With a Pine Green/Black color combination, the shoe’s tongue, eyelets, laces and heel are constructed in Foamposite-staple black mesh and nubuck.—
Riley Jones,
Footwear News,
21 Oct. 2025
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For Palestinians in Gaza, the words feel strange on the tongue.—
Ghada Abdulfattah,
The Atlantic,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Patrick also has his own researcher, so the cast members all had access to this dropbox full of stuff, including incredible academic studies of John Gacy’s speech pattern and word choice and syntax use, and a breakdown of the Chicago dialect and his Polish background.—
Hunter Ingram,
Variety,
18 Oct. 2025
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On Thursday evening, Welsh read from his new book Men in Love, which is written in the Edinburgh dialect.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
17 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The history of labor struggle, infused with religious idioms, is a source of identity and values evident in everything from union meetings in churches to prayers on picket lines.—
The Conversation,
The Conversation,
7 Oct. 2025
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What began as an idiom of care—protecting vulnerable students—has been used to justify a spectacle of retribution.—
Lula Konner,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mother tongue.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mother%20tongue. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.
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