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
Those tongues are basically built-in grooming kits.
—
Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 27 Feb. 2026
Perennials like brittlebush, creosote and the little flame tongues of chuparosa are out.
—Roger Naylor, AZCentral.com, 21 Feb. 2026
The bright red, tubular flowers attract hummingbirds, whose long beaks and tongues perfectly suit the flower shape.
—Anne Readel, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Feb. 2026
Her debut turn alongside Jeremy Renner as a seductive escort got industry tongues wagging.
—Alex Ritman, Variety, 15 Feb. 2026
When snowflakes began to fall, some stuck their tongues out and laughed, playfully nudging one another.
—Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 4 Feb. 2026
Farr wasn't completely certain that the cast and crew would be able to bite their tongues long enough to let the twist shock the world when episode 3 finally arrived.
—Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Jan. 2026
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
Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 27 Feb. 2026
Perennials like brittlebush, creosote and the little flame tongues of chuparosa are out.
—Roger Naylor, AZCentral.com, 21 Feb. 2026
The bright red, tubular flowers attract hummingbirds, whose long beaks and tongues perfectly suit the flower shape.
—Anne Readel, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Feb. 2026
Her debut turn alongside Jeremy Renner as a seductive escort got industry tongues wagging.
—Alex Ritman, Variety, 15 Feb. 2026
When snowflakes began to fall, some stuck their tongues out and laughed, playfully nudging one another.
—Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 4 Feb. 2026
Farr wasn't completely certain that the cast and crew would be able to bite their tongues long enough to let the twist shock the world when episode 3 finally arrived.
—Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Jan. 2026
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongues
Noun
-
In 2024, Semafor experimented with a partnership with Microsoft on a news aggregator called Signals, which helped find stories written in non-English languages not easily picked up by English searches.—
Max Tani,
semafor.com,
4 Mar. 2026
-
The magazine appeared in a variety of languages at various points over the ensuing decades, including French, Czech, Slovak, Russian, and Hungarian.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
3 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
In the October 2025 study that followed families over time, children who spent more time with digital media at age 2 tended to have smaller vocabularies at age 3, regardless of the child’s temperament or the caregiver’s personality traits.—
Miriam Fauzia,
Dallas Morning News,
2 Mar. 2026
-
Teams were asked to learn new interfaces, adopt new vocabularies, and take responsibility for outputs whose behavior remained probabilistic rather than deterministic.—
Alexander Puutio,
Forbes.com,
28 Jan. 2026
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
Cite this Entry
“Tongues.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tongues. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
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