language model

noun

plural language models

: a mathematical model (see model entry 1 sense 3) that analyzes a corpus of text in order to accurately represent the relationships between words

We have tremendous freedom to put words in any order we like. The computer has to have some kind of handle, a language model. It has to figure how likely any particular word is to pop up at any time.

—Robert Mercer, quoted in Chicago Tribune

also : software that uses a language model to generate text (such as responses to queries or prompts)

For example, given the task of analyzing the sentiment of the sentence 'I missed the bus today,' researchers could continue with the prompt 'I felt so [blank]' and ask a language model to fill in the blank with an emotion.

—Kyle Wiggers

see also large language model

Examples of language model in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

One of its use cases was using AI models that transform speech-to-text and then language models on top of those transcripts to assess the quality of how its human customer service agents handled the up to 20,000 customer calls the company receives daily. —Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 24 June 2025

This type of work was useful in the early stages of AI development, when AI companies were still struggling to teach image models to tell the difference between cats and dogs, or teach language models to string together coherent sentences. —Billy Perrigo, Time, 16 June 2025

Amazon has announced a slew of generative AI products over the past year, including its own language models, Trainium chips, a shopping chatbot and a marketplace for third-party models called Bedrock. —Annie Palmer, CNBC, 4 June 2025

But as businesses push beyond static language models, two paradigms have emerged in automation, central to the future of enterprise AI: AI agents and agentic AI. —Sol Rashidi, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1976, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for language model

• caudal
• caudle
• dawdle
• twaddle
• waddle
• remodel