as in languages
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 tongues
The main changes occur on the upper, which swaps out the shoe’s usual ballistic nylon for a full-leather construction that extends to the lace loops, heel tabs and tongues.
—
Riley Jones, Footwear News, 24 Jan. 2026
These are just a few of the beauty effects that were on the tips of everyone's tongues in 2025.
—Jackie Fields, PEOPLE, 29 Dec. 2025
Madsen had to make sure the multilingual dialogue sounded pitch-perfect in many tongues, some of which are quite endangered.
—Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 19 Dec. 2025
She had been seen without her wedding band on more than one occasion afterward, providing new fodder for wagging tongues.
—Francesca Chambers, USA Today, 13 Dec. 2025
The Naked Gun stars Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson sent tongues wagging over the summer with their flirty press tour while promoting the reboot of the slapstick police spoof comedies of the 1980s.
—Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly, 9 Dec. 2025
But not all tongues were treated equally.
—Literary Hub, 24 Nov. 2025
That was the one with all the extreme close-ups of kneading dough and gooey eggs and fingers in fish and people crawling on the floor with their tongues hanging out.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 13 Nov. 2025
Still, a second-generation Jewish American sensibility permeated Caesar’s shows—not just in Yiddish tossed into barbarous tongues but in the pervasive mood of streetwise distrust.
—David Denby, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025
Riley Jones, Footwear News, 24 Jan. 2026
These are just a few of the beauty effects that were on the tips of everyone's tongues in 2025.
—Jackie Fields, PEOPLE, 29 Dec. 2025
Madsen had to make sure the multilingual dialogue sounded pitch-perfect in many tongues, some of which are quite endangered.
—Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 19 Dec. 2025
She had been seen without her wedding band on more than one occasion afterward, providing new fodder for wagging tongues.
—Francesca Chambers, USA Today, 13 Dec. 2025
The Naked Gun stars Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson sent tongues wagging over the summer with their flirty press tour while promoting the reboot of the slapstick police spoof comedies of the 1980s.
—Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly, 9 Dec. 2025
But not all tongues were treated equally.
—Literary Hub, 24 Nov. 2025
That was the one with all the extreme close-ups of kneading dough and gooey eggs and fingers in fish and people crawling on the floor with their tongues hanging out.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 13 Nov. 2025
Still, a second-generation Jewish American sensibility permeated Caesar’s shows—not just in Yiddish tossed into barbarous tongues but in the pervasive mood of streetwise distrust.
—David Denby, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongues
Noun
-
The records themselves are not easy to use; manuscripts are shelved around the world, and the texts, written in four different European languages, still have not been fully brought together in modern translations and analysis.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
-
Its sequel Dhurandhar 2 is scheduled for theatrical release March 19, 2026, in five languages — Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam — expanding significantly beyond the original's Hindi-only strategy.—
Hannah Abraham,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The discovery of language skills in great apes — various gorillas and chimps learned substantial vocabularies in sign language or symbols — and that of tool use across the animal kingdom have, over the years, chipped away at the idea that there is any single ingredient that makes humans unique.—
Tom Chivers,
semafor.com,
13 Jan. 2026
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Children who are read to from under a year old often have larger and more complex vocabularies than their peers by the age of three.—
Rachael O'Connor,
MSNBC Newsweek,
26 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
The event also featured a video about the three countries and fundraising for Sudan, poetry readings, a Kahoot game about the three dialects and prizes, henna and face painting, Syrian dance, a Sudanese wedding reenactment, a fashion show and ethnic food.—
Janice Neumann,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Jan. 2026
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Each one is overflowing with the familiar sights of families taking a passeggiata, or stroll, the aromatic smells of fresh pasta and pizza napoletana, and the musical sounds of the Italian language and its many regional dialects.—
Giovanna Caravetta,
Travel + Leisure,
17 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
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
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For decades, the Grisons had printed textbooks in five Romansh idioms—a baroque solution that invited a more rational one.—
Simon Akam,
New Yorker,
1 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tongues.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tongues. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.
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