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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Example Sentences
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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
In short, mother tongue instruction improves learning and increases student achievement on multiple fronts.
—Laura Clawson, JSTOR Daily, 20 June 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
In short, mother tongue instruction improves learning and increases student achievement on multiple fronts.
—Laura Clawson, JSTOR Daily, 20 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for mother tongue
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother tongue
Noun
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Feller told Al Jazeera that Chinese employers would have to accommodate non-Mandarin speakers by offering English-language positions and improve work-life balance.—
Miranda Jeyaretnam,
Time,
1 Oct. 2025
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One of the most prominent Mexican actresses of her generation, Notni led Amazon MGM’s 2024 reboot of Zorro and recently wrapped Day One, a Spanish-language Amazon series which releases later this year.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
1 Oct. 2025
Noun
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This combo with a strong development on each RTW category, shoes and bags, widened the vocabulary for the brand, staying tuned to their young audience.—
Samantha Conti,
Footwear News,
29 Sep. 2025
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No visual or symbolic vocabulary ever develops.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
26 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Anyway, Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language, to my mind, is the most astonishing of lexicons ever produced in any tongue.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Sep. 2025
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My throat was scorched, my tongue was swollen — and the acid would not stop coming.—
Jack Korngold,
Rolling Stone,
28 Sep. 2025
Noun
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For Minha, the biggest challenge was mastering the North Korean dialect.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
25 Sep. 2025
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Day-one fans of Taylor Swift know that the pop superstar has come a long way since launching her music career as a country singer — and that evolution is apparent in her dialect, according to speech scientists.—
Amarachi Orie,
CNN Money,
23 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Meanwhile, analytical software has revolutionized linguistic inquiry, enabling greater understanding of the ways language works—when, how, and why words break out; the specific contexts for expressions and idioms.—
Stefan Fatsis,
The Atlantic,
13 Sep. 2025
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Nonnas There's a saying that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and Joe Scaravella (Vince Vaughn) of 2025's Nonnas is the perfect depiction of the idiom.—
Jacqueline Weiss,
PEOPLE,
7 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mother tongue.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mother%20tongue. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
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