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
Almost all of them speak in tongues additional to their native ones.
—
James Horncastle, New York Times, 10 June 2026
Now most of them bite their tongues instead of raising their voices.
—Jonathan Zimmerman, Chicago Tribune, 9 June 2026
Kansas City is brushing up on its interpretive skills, preparing to welcome and accommodate visitors of all tongues for the world’s largest sporting event.
—Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, 4 June 2026
Beef cheeks and tongues, Frenched racks of lamb, glistening hams, poulet de Bresse, and rabbits still with their heads, round eyes blinkless under long lashes frozen in the ice.
—Literary Hub, 3 June 2026
Padding at the tongues and collars offer a secure fit that keeps your feet firmly in place, and grippy rubber outsoles will do wonders to eliminate slipping during unexpected summer showers.
—Merrell Readman, Travel + Leisure, 30 May 2026
And so the Lord imposed a panoply of tongues, thereby deterring the creation of any new technology that might aspire to divine power and glory.
—Elizabeth Bruenig, The Atlantic, 27 May 2026
Her name was on the tip of many tongues.
—Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2026
Jurado noted that tongues of salt water are already encroaching into some of the freshwater areas of South Florida.
—Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 23 May 2026
James Horncastle, New York Times, 10 June 2026
Now most of them bite their tongues instead of raising their voices.
—Jonathan Zimmerman, Chicago Tribune, 9 June 2026
Kansas City is brushing up on its interpretive skills, preparing to welcome and accommodate visitors of all tongues for the world’s largest sporting event.
—Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, 4 June 2026
Beef cheeks and tongues, Frenched racks of lamb, glistening hams, poulet de Bresse, and rabbits still with their heads, round eyes blinkless under long lashes frozen in the ice.
—Literary Hub, 3 June 2026
Padding at the tongues and collars offer a secure fit that keeps your feet firmly in place, and grippy rubber outsoles will do wonders to eliminate slipping during unexpected summer showers.
—Merrell Readman, Travel + Leisure, 30 May 2026
And so the Lord imposed a panoply of tongues, thereby deterring the creation of any new technology that might aspire to divine power and glory.
—Elizabeth Bruenig, The Atlantic, 27 May 2026
Her name was on the tip of many tongues.
—Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2026
Jurado noted that tongues of salt water are already encroaching into some of the freshwater areas of South Florida.
—Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 23 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongues
Noun
-
Football in Ghana is a powerful unifying force in a country of more than 30 million people, multiple languages, and dozens of distinct ethnic groups.—
Carl Anka,
New York Times,
10 June 2026
-
Israel’s military has spokespeople in several languages, but only Adraee is famous enough to be known by his first name.—
Melanie Lidman,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2026
Noun
-
By the end of the learning unit, Burton said growth in the children could be seen as their vocabularies expanded to using words such as thermometer, blood pressure and punctured.—
Tribune News Service,
Baltimore Sun,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Shallow, misogynistic speech has seeped into the daily vocabularies of many, suggesting the toxic, anti-woman values that have long inspired such rhetoric are once again calcifying into a widespread and serious problem.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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It is also being distributed internationally and has been translated into French, Spanish, German and three Greenlandic dialects.—
Tarini Mehta,
Sacbee.com,
9 June 2026
-
Language is often a reflection of the culture that shapes it, impacting tone, idioms, dialects and even silence across regions.—
Ryan Kolln,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2026
Noun
-
Language is often a reflection of the culture that shapes it, impacting tone, idioms, dialects and even silence across regions.—
Ryan Kolln,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2026
-
Probably because at the time many of the time signatures and chordal progressions that Miles used were over the head of a young guitar player still functioning in the blues and folk idioms.—
Steve Baltin,
Los Angeles Times,
25 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tongues.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tongues. Accessed 10 Jun. 2026.
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