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
Many rank-and-file enlistees were also recent immigrants, and patriot regiments hummed with a cacophony of different tongues, accents, and dialects throughout the war.
—
Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
Many in that group are holding their tongues in public.
—Ben Smith, semafor.com, 27 Oct. 2025
Many breeds have darker lips and noses, and that pigmentation can also be found in their tongues and gums.
—Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Oct. 2025
Live little fish on our tongues and swallowing them.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2025
Patients placed their heads in a box illuminated by LED lights, which emitted a stable and controllable wavelength of light, and exposed their tongues.
—Eve Lu, Scientific American, 8 Oct. 2025
In the rare photos, the teenagers could be seen wearing hats and sunglasses at a restaurant, sticking their tongues out, posing with Keough in New York City, smiling together in a mirror selfie and posing outside in a tropical location.
—Hannah Sacks, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2025
Persons with exceptional flexibility and/or exceptionally long tongues can sometimes achieve this feat.
—Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Oct. 2025
Swift and Styles set tongues wagging after they were spotted by paparazzi strolling together in November 2012, and things seemed even more heated after they were photographed sharing some New Year’s Eve smooches the following month.
—Lisa Respers France, CNN Money, 1 Oct. 2025
Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
Many in that group are holding their tongues in public.
—Ben Smith, semafor.com, 27 Oct. 2025
Many breeds have darker lips and noses, and that pigmentation can also be found in their tongues and gums.
—Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Oct. 2025
Live little fish on our tongues and swallowing them.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2025
Patients placed their heads in a box illuminated by LED lights, which emitted a stable and controllable wavelength of light, and exposed their tongues.
—Eve Lu, Scientific American, 8 Oct. 2025
In the rare photos, the teenagers could be seen wearing hats and sunglasses at a restaurant, sticking their tongues out, posing with Keough in New York City, smiling together in a mirror selfie and posing outside in a tropical location.
—Hannah Sacks, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2025
Persons with exceptional flexibility and/or exceptionally long tongues can sometimes achieve this feat.
—Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Oct. 2025
Swift and Styles set tongues wagging after they were spotted by paparazzi strolling together in November 2012, and things seemed even more heated after they were photographed sharing some New Year’s Eve smooches the following month.
—Lisa Respers France, CNN Money, 1 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongues
Noun
-
This is why the delegates translated it into multiple languages immediately and sent copies intended for King Louis XVI of France and King Carlos III of Spain on the first ship bound for Europe on July 8.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Nov. 2025
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The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.—
Nicole Acosta,
PEOPLE,
6 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
All the tired vocabularies have been thrown out, replaced by a mad, post-minimalist openness and pluralism.—
Jerry Saltz,
Vulture,
19 Sep. 2025
-
Transcripts, grammars, vocabularies, dictionaries, glyph studies, botanical studies, commentaries, articles, editions of codices, correspondence, maps, charts, drawings, photographs, Maya Society materials, genealogies of Maya families, and Mayan glyphs on moveable type.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
But Simeon Silverio, former publisher of the San Diego Asian Journal, said Bayani reflects only one of many Filipino dialects and would fail to represent the country’s diverse cultural groups, each of which has its own word for hero.—
Walker Armstrong,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 Oct. 2025
-
Studies have found regional dialects of birds’ songs and evidence that some birds learn songs from their parents while still in the shell.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
10 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Music unites the interconnecting stories in this saga and expands its passions, with a sumptuous score by composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist Lynn Ahrens that taps into a wide range of American styles, idioms and amalgams, even as the second act turns more dissonant.—
Frank Rizzo,
Variety,
17 Oct. 2025
-
The history of labor struggle, infused with religious idioms, is a source of identity and values evident in everything from union meetings in churches to prayers on picket lines.—
The Conversation,
The Conversation,
7 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tongues.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tongues. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.
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