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 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
This matters because chameleons hunt by ballistically launching their tongues like slingshots, using a tapered bone in their throat as a ramp.
—Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 10 Sep. 2025
Launching on 16th October, 2025, the bubblegum pink sculpture features two entwined tongues, forming a surreal, dancing figure at the entrance of the iconic Brutalist gallery.
—Lee Sharrock, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
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
This matters because chameleons hunt by ballistically launching their tongues like slingshots, using a tapered bone in their throat as a ramp.
—Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 10 Sep. 2025
Launching on 16th October, 2025, the bubblegum pink sculpture features two entwined tongues, forming a surreal, dancing figure at the entrance of the iconic Brutalist gallery.
—Lee Sharrock, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongues
Noun
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As far as translation goes, AI software has been able to expertly convert basic Spanish to English or German to French (the other two languages currently available in the AirPod translation feature) for many years; Apple hasn’t really attempted an algorithmic leap there.—
Matteo Wong,
The Atlantic,
16 Oct. 2025
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The industry may have been hesitant about a rising star who operated in two languages, but her fans weren’t.—
Isabela Raygoza,
Billboard,
16 Oct. 2025
Noun
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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
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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
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Throughout a career spanning more than three decades, Garg sang in dozens of languages and dialects, becoming a powerhouse in the Assamese, Bengali and Hindi-language film and music industries.—
Angela Yang,
NBC news,
21 Sep. 2025
Noun
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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
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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 22 Oct. 2025.
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