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
Image The theme is the conflict between mother tongues and other tongues.
—
Jesse Green, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2025
Yiddish, the mother tongue of Ashkenazi Jews in Europe for nearly a thousand years, is still spoken by about six hundred thousand ultra-Orthodox Jews mostly concentrated in America, Europe, and Israel.
—Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2025
So to be able to play in my mother tongue would be an amazing experience because there would be no boundaries whatsoever.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
So to be able to play in my mother tongue would be an amazing experience because there would be no boundaries whatsoever.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mother tongue
Jesse Green, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2025
Yiddish, the mother tongue of Ashkenazi Jews in Europe for nearly a thousand years, is still spoken by about six hundred thousand ultra-Orthodox Jews mostly concentrated in America, Europe, and Israel.
—Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2025
So to be able to play in my mother tongue would be an amazing experience because there would be no boundaries whatsoever.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
So to be able to play in my mother tongue would be an amazing experience because there would be no boundaries whatsoever.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mother tongue
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother tongue
Noun
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Barring any specific language in the Wilkins contract, the Raiders will have an uphill battle to fight.—
Saad Yousuf,
New York Times,
26 July 2025
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But their language echoes the same arguments about unfair trade, deficits and national security that Trump invoked during his reciprocal tariff rollout.—
Kevin Breuninger,
CNBC,
26 July 2025
Noun
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There’s almost a template to the Lexington format and a distinctive vocabulary too.—
Robert F. Moss,
Southern Living,
23 July 2025
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So, in the case of La Tête d’Or, [chef] Daniel [Boulud] had this ambition to create something that was kind of a grand New York steakhouse but with a French influence, which led to a more refined vocabulary, and that led to wanting to elevate the cooking to be on display.—
Sofia Perez,
Forbes.com,
21 July 2025
Noun
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Weeks passed, and the bump remained, despite the tongue’s tendency to heal quickly.—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
People.com,
13 July 2025
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Meanwhile, actual intelligence is sitting there, holding its tongue, waiting for space.—
Stephanie Dillon,
Rolling Stone,
11 July 2025
Noun
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Look for loot and get a glimpse of life in the historic Marolles district south of the city center, once famous for the increasingly rare local dialect, Brusseleer, a.k.a.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
10 July 2025
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While over 20 dialects are spoken in Liberia, English is the official language of the country.—
Jenny Goldsberry,
The Washington Examiner,
10 July 2025
Noun
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To quote a homespun idiom, there are different horses for different courses.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
23 July 2025
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Especially in multilingual markets, users frequently mix languages and use non-standard grammar, local idioms, creative spelling and hybrid sentence structures.—
Alessa Cross,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mother tongue.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mother%20tongue. Accessed 31 Jul. 2025.
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