as in language
the stock of words, pronunciation, and grammar used by a people as their basic means of communication
he spoke in a tongue that I didn't understand
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Recent Examples of tongue
Even its occasional attempts at campy tongue-in-cheekiness seldom raise more than a titter.
—
Arthur Knight,
HollywoodReporter,
25 June 2026
The scene when Emily Blunt speaks in alien tongues was deeply spooky.
—
Adam Frank,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2026
The key thing to note here is that the consonant /w/ is pronounced with the lips and the back of the tongue.
—
Literary Hub,
25 June 2026
Then, in December 2025, Coulier revealed he had been recently diagnosed with p16 squamous carcinoma, a type of head and neck cancer found at the base of his tongue.
—
Diana Pearl,
PEOPLE,
24 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for tongue
Arthur Knight,
HollywoodReporter,
25 June 2026
The scene when Emily Blunt speaks in alien tongues was deeply spooky.
—
Adam Frank,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2026
The key thing to note here is that the consonant /w/ is pronounced with the lips and the back of the tongue.
—
Literary Hub,
25 June 2026
Then, in December 2025, Coulier revealed he had been recently diagnosed with p16 squamous carcinoma, a type of head and neck cancer found at the base of his tongue.
—
Diana Pearl,
PEOPLE,
24 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for tongue
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongue
Noun
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Eight groups challenged the department’s definition in court, representing nurse practitioners, therapists, speech language pathologists and more.
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Keep language simple, confirm times, and leave extra room between commitments.
Noun
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Operational Infrastructure The market is slowly finding a more honest vocabulary for what AI models actually are.
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Using data collected over years of painstaking observation, Elie discovered 11 core calls that make up the zebra finch vocabulary, such as calls for distress, hunger and saying hello.
Noun
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Unlike the brighter, more melodic style often associated with Austria and the Tyrol region, Swiss yodeling is slower and more melancholic — an emotionally nuanced tradition rooted in distinct regional dialects.
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Unlike the brighter, more melodic style often associated with Austria and the Tyrol region, Swiss yodeling is slower and more melancholic — an emotionally nuanced tradition rooted in distinct regional dialects.
Noun
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On the one hand, the translation serves as a source for the idioms of nineteenth-century English; on the other, as evidence of the ideas that the translator held about a Colombian woman writer.
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Out of love for different sound systems, different writing systems, different grammars, different sets of concepts, different idioms, different ways of seeing the world.
Video
An Abbreviated History of American English Spelling
Soop, wimmen, and headake did not make the cut
Cite this Entry
“Tongue.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tongue. Accessed 2 Jul. 2026.
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