as in vocabularies
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother tongues
Noun
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All the tired vocabularies have been thrown out, replaced by a mad, post-minimalist openness and pluralism.—
Jerry Saltz,
Vulture,
19 Sep. 2025 -
Transcripts, grammars, vocabularies, dictionaries, glyph studies, botanical studies, commentaries, articles, editions of codices, correspondence, maps, charts, drawings, photographs, Maya Society materials, genealogies of Maya families, and Mayan glyphs on moveable type.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Many breeds have darker lips and noses, and that pigmentation can also be found in their tongues and gums.—
Alice Gibbs,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Oct. 2025
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Live little fish on our tongues and swallowing them.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
14 Oct. 2025
Noun
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As far as translation goes, AI software has been able to expertly convert basic Spanish to English or German to French (the other two languages currently available in the AirPod translation feature) for many years; Apple hasn’t really attempted an algorithmic leap there.—
Matteo Wong,
The Atlantic,
16 Oct. 2025
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The industry may have been hesitant about a rising star who operated in two languages, but her fans weren’t.—
Isabela Raygoza,
Billboard,
16 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Music unites the interconnecting stories in this saga and expands its passions, with a sumptuous score by composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist Lynn Ahrens that taps into a wide range of American styles, idioms and amalgams, even as the second act turns more dissonant.—
Frank Rizzo,
Variety,
17 Oct. 2025
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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
Noun
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Studies have found regional dialects of birds’ songs and evidence that some birds learn songs from their parents while still in the shell.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
10 Oct. 2025
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Throughout a career spanning more than three decades, Garg sang in dozens of languages and dialects, becoming a powerhouse in the Assamese, Bengali and Hindi-language film and music industries.—
Angela Yang,
NBC news,
21 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Mother tongues.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mother%20tongues. Accessed 24 Oct. 2025.
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