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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tongue
The new body cameras can translate a trooper’s statements from English into someone’s native tongue, and their statements can also be translated for the trooper, allowing for a back-and-forth dialogue between two people who don’t speak the same language, Maynard said.
—
Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 5 Mar. 2026
The movie positions itself as being fueled by a righteous, volcanic rage, down to a story line about a character who has women’s tongues cut out to ensure their silence about his abuses.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 5 Mar. 2026
Arrieta said the initial children’s exam is usually over quickly, and involves checking the bite, lips, tongue and teeth to ensure everything is developing correctly and that there are no issues.
—Regina Elling, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Mar. 2026
But there’s another reason the word has been on the tip of his tongue.
—Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 4 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tongue
Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 5 Mar. 2026
The movie positions itself as being fueled by a righteous, volcanic rage, down to a story line about a character who has women’s tongues cut out to ensure their silence about his abuses.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 5 Mar. 2026
Arrieta said the initial children’s exam is usually over quickly, and involves checking the bite, lips, tongue and teeth to ensure everything is developing correctly and that there are no issues.
—Regina Elling, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Mar. 2026
But there’s another reason the word has been on the tip of his tongue.
—Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 4 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tongue
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongue
Noun
-
Still, for distributors and exhibitors in the United States, bringing foreign-language films to theaters sometimes seems like an act of philanthropy, while French sales agent grumble about the low sales prices.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
9 Mar. 2026
-
Foreign language films, documentaries, cross pollination with their music artists, and more producing are all on the table.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
9 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
So to get to be playing the character who originated a saying that is a huge part of my vocabulary — and that I’ve been so obsessed with for so long — is crazy.—
Brian Davids,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Mar. 2026
-
Rosanna Arquette has a major issue with Quentin Tarantino's vocabulary.—
Wesley Stenzel,
Entertainment Weekly,
7 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
How could food from India’s 23 states — with multitudinous subregions and over a thousand dialects — ever be distilled into the generic naan, dal, butter chicken, dosa and sambar?—
Kalpana Mohan,
Mercury News,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
Next to the particularities of place—the Midwest, the South—or enmeshed with it, are the particularities of language, of idiom, and ways of saying.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Feb. 2026
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 10 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
