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
First seen at a night-club table of menacing lowlifes, Ida, whose mother tongue is Brooklynese, suddenly switches to a heavy British accent and dispenses a torrent of highly literary sarcasms.
—
Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2026
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
While many nations have codified their mother tongue—France with French, Japan with Japanese, or Mexico with Spanish—America has always relied on practice and practicality rather than statute.
—Doug Melville, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mother tongue
Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2026
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
While many nations have codified their mother tongue—France with French, Japan with Japanese, or Mexico with Spanish—America has always relied on practice and practicality rather than statute.
—Doug Melville, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mother tongue
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother tongue
Noun
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Akil had a stammer, and English was his third or fourth language.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 May 2026
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There are languages besides English and Spanish.—
Steve Sadin,
Chicago Tribune,
11 May 2026
Noun
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That tension has long been part of Stewart’s red carpet shoe vocabulary.—
Maggie Clancy,
Footwear News,
16 May 2026
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Swifties often attempt to speak or sing as Taylor Swift does, employing a similar vocabulary and vocalizations.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
Noun
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Floating above the soundstage was a massive eyeball with a rainbow runway carpet protruding from it like a tongue.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
17 May 2026
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Also unique to this new style is its circular design which replaces the traditional lattice mesh on the tongue and side ventilation cutout.—
Riley Jones,
Footwear News,
16 May 2026
Noun
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Yet Cornelius Krull, the patriarch, speaks only a German dialect and never utters more than two words.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
14 May 2026
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Many older residents speak not just Italian and Croatian, but also a local dialect derived from Old Venetian and Old Croatian.—
Kevin West,
Travel + Leisure,
8 May 2026
Noun
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The Western musical tradition is mostly sidelined in favor of kuduro, gqom, batida, and sounds too free of familiar musical idioms to be easily categorized.—
Will Lynch,
Pitchfork,
11 May 2026
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While the work’s English title might indicate a sense of amusement or distraction, the Chinese title is an idiom that refers to being caught in a dilemma, like a boat that has left one shore but has not yet reached the other.—
Pauline J. Yao,
Artforum,
2 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Mother tongue.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mother%20tongue. Accessed 19 May. 2026.
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