mother tongues

noun

plural of mother tongue
as in languages
the stock of words, pronunciation, and grammar used by a people as their basic means of communication although the anthropologist could speak the local language fairly well, she was always glad to find someone who shared her mother tongue

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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 mother tongues Each actress nails the comedic timing – and the accented English that flows with the cadence of their mother tongues. — Elizabeth B. Kim, Cincinnati Enquirer, 7 Nov. 2025 Work with people of different ages, backgrounds, perspectives, and mother tongues. — Rachel Konrad, Time, 9 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother tongues
  1. languages
  2. vocabularies
  3. tongues
  4. idioms
  5. dialects
Noun
  • Minionese blends fragments of half a dozen languages, English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and others, so the dialogue would feel familiar to audiences everywhere rather than tied to any one country.
    — David Deal, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
  • They can also be used for de-aging characters, creating performances in different languages, or preserving the voice or likeness of an actor whose health is deteriorating, as was the case with CAA client Eric Dane.
    — Joy Press, Vanity Fair, 6 July 2026
Definition of languages
Noun
  • Do the formal vocabularies that are supposed to encode my field actually capture how the people in it think?
    — John Drake, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
  • 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.
    — Wayne Chang, CNN Money, 17 June 2026
Definition of vocabularies
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.
    — Douglas Hofstadter, Time, 30 June 2026
  • The scene when Emily Blunt speaks in alien tongues was deeply spooky.
    — Adam Frank, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026
Definition of tongues
Noun
  • 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.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 1 July 2026
  • Out of love for different sound systems, different writing systems, different grammars, different sets of concepts, different idioms, different ways of seeing the world.
    — Douglas Hofstadter, Time, 30 June 2026
Definition of idioms
Noun
  • 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.
    — Jez Fielder, Fortune, 30 June 2026
  • 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.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 29 June 2026
Definition of dialects

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mother tongue
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Cite this Entry

“Mother tongues.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mother%20tongues. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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