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tongues

noun

plural of tongue
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 tongues Mesh on the tongues ensures their breathability, and the simple off-white and black combination will be a breeze to style. — Merrell Readman, Travel + Leisure, 17 Sep. 2026 As the bullying escalates and tensions boil over, tongues loosen, forcing the truth out into the open. — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 18 Aug. 2026 The women in the WNBA should no more be required to hold their tongues than the men who play in the NBA. — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 12 Aug. 2026 Linguists say these various tongues have more distinction between them than the romance languages do from one another. — Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 12 Aug. 2026 In the margin, staghounds clean their paws with oiled tongues. — Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026 Children separated from their families were taught, sometimes violently, not to speak their native tongues, and many did not pass them on to their children. — Kadin Mills, NPR, 26 July 2026 But today’s linguistic diversity may be only the shadow of a time when humans conversed in 10 times as many tongues. — Cody Cottier, Scientific American, 23 July 2026 From the moment any combination of sugar, fat, dairy and/or dough first touched our tongues, we were hooked. — Isidoro Rodriguez, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongues
  1. languages
  2. vocabularies
  3. dialects
  4. idioms
Noun
  • The effort to improve access to AI in more languages has drawn roughly 60 participants, the Gates Foundation said on Monday.
    — Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 21 Sep. 2026
  • The Gates Foundation is committing at least $1 billion globally to AI development over the next two years with funding focused on education, making AI work across more languages and local contexts, as well as in health, and agriculture.
    — Yinka Adegoke, semafor.com, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of languages
Noun
  • Yet a 2023 Stanford study said that Pangram was biased against non-native English speakers, who might have more limited vocabularies, and many AI researchers contend that such detectors are unreliable.
    — Cameron Pugh, Christian Science Monitor, 12 Aug. 2026
  • Chinese law schools have accordingly placed greater weight on teaching Chinese students to argue using the vocabularies of foreign legal systems.
    — Mark Jia, Foreign Affairs, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of vocabularies
Noun
  • On the edges of the empire, speakers of Germanic dialects, such as the Goths and Vandals, frequently clashed with the Romans, eventually contributing to the fragmentation of the empire.
    — Scott Spires, Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 Sep. 2026
  • What used to be two entirely separate compliance projects is starting to look like two dialects of the same emerging language.
    — Abdelahhad Barbour, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of dialects
Noun
  • Cinema is, after all, a language, and Belgian filmmakers come from a country built on the need to understand language as a bridge—between its regions, its people, and its idioms.
    — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 11 Sep. 2026
  • There are plenty of idioms to describe Andrean outside hitter Aleece Ehler’s freshman season.
    — Noah Poser, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of idioms

Browse Nearby Words

tongueless
tongues
tongue-tied
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Tongues.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tongues. Accessed 23 Sep. 2026.

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