as in languages
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 tongues
Work with people of different ages, backgrounds, perspectives, and mother tongues.
—
Rachel Konrad, Time, 9 Dec. 2025
Each actress nails the comedic timing – and the accented English that flows with the cadence of their mother tongues.
—Elizabeth B. Kim, Cincinnati Enquirer, 7 Nov. 2025
Rachel Konrad, Time, 9 Dec. 2025
Each actress nails the comedic timing – and the accented English that flows with the cadence of their mother tongues.
—Elizabeth B. Kim, Cincinnati Enquirer, 7 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother tongues
Noun
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These short-form, mobile-first series are designed for speed, shareability and cultural specificity, with local casts and languages forming the backbone of production.—
Faye Bradley,
Variety,
17 Mar. 2026
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The creator, who used a pseudonym, helpfully carved these guidelines on the stones in eight different languages.—
AJ Willingham,
AJC.com,
17 Mar. 2026
Noun
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In the October 2025 study that followed families over time, children who spent more time with digital media at age 2 tended to have smaller vocabularies at age 3, regardless of the child’s temperament or the caregiver’s personality traits.—
Miriam Fauzia,
Dallas Morning News,
2 Mar. 2026
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Teams were asked to learn new interfaces, adopt new vocabularies, and take responsibility for outputs whose behavior remained probabilistic rather than deterministic.—
Alexander Puutio,
Forbes.com,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Zendaya kicked off Paris Fashion Week by sending tongues wagging in bridal white chic.—
Raechal Shewfelt,
Entertainment Weekly,
10 Mar. 2026
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The scene also shows a table covered in tongues, implying the women removed Lupino’s tongue.—
Hanna Wickes,
Charlotte Observer,
6 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Those books introduced me to a vision of American teenage life and taught me the rhythms and idioms of American English, nuances that would later replace my Britishisms and shape my career as a journalist.—
Faith Karimi,
CNN Money,
17 Feb. 2026
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Like fellow North Carolinians Wednesday and MJ Lenderman—local stars descended from the likes of Lucinda Williams and Drive-By Truckers—Dowdy carves complex new visions into the idioms of his upbringing.—
Jenn Pelly,
Time,
4 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Not between English and other languages but between the dialects spoken by different corners of the industry.—
Amber Nigam,
Harvard Business Review,
11 Mar. 2026
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Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, but the Kurdish population has diverse religious, cultural, social and political traditions, as well as a variety of dialects of the Kurdish language.—
Lauren Kent,
CNN Money,
5 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Mother tongues.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mother%20tongues. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.
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