1
as in tongues
the stock of words, pronunciation, and grammar used by a people as their basic means of communication
Great Britain, the United States, Australia, and other countries where English is the dominant language
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in dialects
the special terms or expressions of a particular group or field
"love" means "nothing" in the language of tennis
Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in dictions
the way in which something is put into words
we're finding the language of the legal documents to be tough going
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of languages
In recent years China’s Communist Party has ramped up oversight of religious institutions, rolled back the use of ethnic minority languages in primary, secondary schools and kindergartens.
—
Simone McCarthy,
CNN Money,
1 July 2026
Among other things, the council revolutionized the Catholic Church’s relations with other religions and the laity, and allowed Mass to be celebrated in vernacular languages rather than Latin.
—
ABC News,
30 June 2026
Translations of parts of the Bible into vernacular languages – the languages people actually spoke in their daily life – were not uncommon, however.
—
Michael Bruening,
The Conversation,
30 June 2026
The Translator in the Middle For artist-corporate collaborations to produce results, someone has to speak both languages.
—
Benjamin Wolff,
Forbes.com,
29 June 2026
Across a career spanning 23 books, his titles have been translated into more than 40 languages.
—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
29 June 2026
They are equipped with a six-microphone AI system that not only ensures crystal-clear calls in windy conditions but also powers a groundbreaking real-time translation feature for over 100 languages.
—
Juhi Wadia,
PC Magazine,
29 June 2026
The Homeric poems have been translated into English and other vernacular languages for only the past 400 years.
—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
23 June 2026
Delores, like me, has grown up in a changing community, a landscape of mixed languages.
—
Eythana Miller,
The Dial,
23 June 2026
Simone McCarthy,
CNN Money,
1 July 2026
Among other things, the council revolutionized the Catholic Church’s relations with other religions and the laity, and allowed Mass to be celebrated in vernacular languages rather than Latin.
—
ABC News,
30 June 2026
Translations of parts of the Bible into vernacular languages – the languages people actually spoke in their daily life – were not uncommon, however.
—
Michael Bruening,
The Conversation,
30 June 2026
The Translator in the Middle For artist-corporate collaborations to produce results, someone has to speak both languages.
—
Benjamin Wolff,
Forbes.com,
29 June 2026
Across a career spanning 23 books, his titles have been translated into more than 40 languages.
—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
29 June 2026
They are equipped with a six-microphone AI system that not only ensures crystal-clear calls in windy conditions but also powers a groundbreaking real-time translation feature for over 100 languages.
—
Juhi Wadia,
PC Magazine,
29 June 2026
The Homeric poems have been translated into English and other vernacular languages for only the past 400 years.
—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
23 June 2026
Delores, like me, has grown up in a changing community, a landscape of mixed languages.
—
Eythana Miller,
The Dial,
23 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for languages
Noun
-
The results have often left me highly frustrated, but also have given me indescribable joy at the fact of having absorbed (although only partially, of course) some of the elusive beauty of those marvelous, magical, mysteriously alluring tongues.
-
The scene when Emily Blunt speaks in alien tongues was deeply spooky.
Noun
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Unlike the brighter, more melodic style often associated with Austria and the Tyrol region, Swiss yodeling is slower and more melancholic — an emotionally nuanced tradition rooted in distinct regional dialects.
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Unlike the brighter, more melodic style often associated with Austria and the Tyrol region, Swiss yodeling is slower and more melancholic — an emotionally nuanced tradition rooted in distinct regional dialects.
Noun
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The first three were post-dictions of inflation; the latter four were predictions that had not yet been observed when they were made.
Noun
-
Do the formal vocabularies that are supposed to encode my field actually capture how the people in it think?
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But more variations of Austronesian languages have been identified in Taiwan, accompanied with more intricate grammatical structures and expansive vocabularies, which has provided insights for linguists.
Noun
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Women expect better design, better formulations, and better experiences everywhere else in their lives.
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There’s no shortage of options to choose from, either, including formulations made for specific conditions (pregnancy, postpartum, and premenopause, to name a few) or age.
Noun
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On the one hand, the translation serves as a source for the idioms of nineteenth-century English; on the other, as evidence of the ideas that the translator held about a Colombian woman writer.
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Out of love for different sound systems, different writing systems, different grammars, different sets of concepts, different idioms, different ways of seeing the world.
Cite this Entry
“Languages.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/languages. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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