How to Use idiomatic in a Sentence

idiomatic

adjective

• The dancing and the chorus work were first-rate; James Lowe was the idiomatic conductor.
  — Heidi Waleson, WSJ, 16 Aug. 2017
• Hip-hop's fast pace, rife with slang, double meanings, idiomatic expressions and plays on words — or made-up words — can be the most challenging.
  — Chris Kenning, The Courier-Journal, 3 July 2019
• To be sure, Alter’s choices are reasonable ones, and each does capture the sense of the original in idiomatic English.
  — Sam Bray, Washington Post, 10 July 2017
• Those who speak both say Cantonese is more colorful and idiomatic than Mandarin, with more cursing.
  — Tribune News Service, oregonlive, 23 Apr. 2022
• With conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya firmly in control, the orchestra was much more lively and idiomatic than the staging.
  — Heidi Waleson, WSJ, 29 May 2018
• Of course, even face the idiomatic and cultural hurdles requires landing the most important: talent and endurance.
  — Casey Quackenbush, Time, 24 Oct. 2017
• The chorus sang forcefully from the pit, and the orchestra was idiomatic under the skillful leadership of Harry Bicket.
  — Heidi Waleson, WSJ, 3 Oct. 2017
• What resonates is the multitude of idiomatic expressions rather than a single radical shock or reset to the system.
  — Amy Verner, Vogue, 28 Oct. 2021
• Lopez-Cobos' uptight accompaniment was all about keeping in step with his soloist, but that was not nearly the same thing as breathing Gershwin's music with the same idiomatic ease or flair.
  — John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 26 May 2017
• Pevear and Volokhonsky take strange pains to avoid idiomatic language, giving the prose an awkward formality.
  — New York Times, 14 Apr. 2020
• In truth, the Portuguese writer had stumbled into the sweet spot of many a modern poet: knowing a foreign language well enough to imitate its best writers, but not so well as to be a viable, idiomatic stylist in it.
  — Benjamin Kunkel, Harper's Magazine, 26 Oct. 2021
• Out of obscure British usage a term became idiomatic in America: stagflation.
  — Brian Domitrovic, Forbes, 30 Apr. 2022
• What matters is that they be kept inside recognizably idiomatic speech.
  — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 23 May 2022
• On cross-examination, Unsworth said his jab at Musk was just an idiomatic expression and not meant to be taken literally.
  — CBS News, 5 Dec. 2019
• Honeck paced the scherzo as moderately as Mahler specified in the score, bringing a truly idiomatic grace to those lilting evocations of Viennese landler and waltz.
  — John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 26 Jan. 2018
• Alsop’s Verdi was overcharged and not altogether idiomatic, lacking Verdian flow in the interest of trying to land points at big moments.
  — Washington Post, 30 Sep. 2019
• His knack for keeping textures spotless, rhythms sharply etched, yielded an idiomatic rendition of Bartok’s mid-20th-century take on the baroque concerto grosso.
  — John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 3 Nov. 2017
• With either or both Michael Sponseller and Valenzuela on harpsichord and/or organ, their realizations were idiomatic and clean.
  — San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Oct. 2019
• Textual analysis came naturally to the industry’s sleuths, some of whom claimed to detect a Germanic cadence in the thief’s writing or an idiomatic French syntax.
  — Reeves Wiedeman, Vulture, 17 Aug. 2021
• So did the idiomatic work of conductor Scott Speck and the Chicago Philharmonic, which elegantly handled intricate interchanges with the jazz trio.
  — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 6 Dec. 2019
• The translations will probably come with the same occasional mishaps that Google Translate runs into—idiomatic expressions might be confounding, and some words just don’t compute.
  — Ella Riley-Adams, Vogue, 4 Oct. 2017
• Then, too, the superbly idiomatic Bartok recordings Solti made in Chicago remain a cornerstone of his discography, a loving homage to his great countryman that brought out the best in him and his magnificent orchestra.
  — John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 12 Dec. 2017
• Kennedy sprinkles in more idiomatic vocabulary – geg, neb, snatter, wheeker, pokes, marleys – to make her characters’ exchanges ring true.
  — Malcolm Forbes, Washington Post, 28 Oct. 2022
• But Hrusa has something of his own to bring to the cycle: an idiomatic feel for color and atmosphere, blazing with drama and patriotic fervor, yet respectful of detail and formal integrity.
  — John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 19 May 2017
• Similarly, the Persian phrases, usually idiomatic ones, that pepper the dialogue are translated for the reader throughout the book — often, puzzlingly, by the person who just spoke them.
  — Rebecca Makkai, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2020
• Performances are assured and idiomatic throughout the collection.
  — Tim Diovanni, Dallas News, 22 Apr. 2020
• The traditional idiomatic wisdom that ‘muchas manos en la olla echan el guiso a perder’ - analogized to ‘too many cooks spoiling the broth’ – has been abandoned in favor of more collaborative and integrated models of healthcare delivery.
  — David Walcott, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2021
• With ordinary emotion sung in idiomatic English having been reclaimed by the singer-songwriters, theatrical music could borrow rock style but move backward in form, toward operetta and melodrama.
  — Steven Strogatz, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2017
• Conductor Chen led the Sinfonietta’s wind quintet in an idiomatic reading that captured the rhythmic charm and lyric elegance of Piazzolla’s original.
  — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 18 Oct. 2020
• Payare led the orchestra in an idiomatic performance for this concerto’s American premiere.
  — San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Feb. 2022

Last Updated: 24 Jul 2024