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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The women of The View have entered the Jimmy Kimmel chat after initially holding their tongues in the wake of his suspension last week.—
Andy Greene,
Rolling Stone,
22 Sep. 2025
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Such insights would refine our understanding of the world’s roughly 7,000 tongues, clarifying which parts of a language are homegrown and which are the product of outside influence.—
Cody Cottier,
Scientific American,
18 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.—
Christine Pelisek,
PEOPLE,
24 Sep. 2025
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The new General Audiovisual Communication Law only counts productions in Spanish or Spain’s co-official languages toward the investment quota.—
Anna Marie de la Fuente,
Variety,
24 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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These systems can interpret regional slang, idioms and context-specific expressions, hence minimizing both over-censorship and under-enforcement.—
Anees Ali Khan,
Forbes.com,
8 Aug. 2025
Noun
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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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Many live in complex social groups, communicate in different dialects, pass on culture through generations, engage in play and even grieve the loss of family and friends as was the case here.—
Adeola Adeosun,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 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 1 Oct. 2025.
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