as in language
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 tongue
Colin the Janitor crawling down a hallway with his black tongue wagging at a cowering woman, and the true image of hell incarnate, Pyramid Head, literally ripping the skin suit off of live bodies should shake you to your core.
—
Jordan Crucchiola, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2025
The man was asked to lay on his back, and doctors pulled out his tongue to look inside his throat.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 27 Mar. 2025
But even the best-intending critics should hold their tongues while a larger effort unfolds.
—Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Mar. 2025
Reacher introduces himself in the man’s native tongue.
—Chris Klimek, Vulture, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tongue
Jordan Crucchiola, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2025
The man was asked to lay on his back, and doctors pulled out his tongue to look inside his throat.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 27 Mar. 2025
But even the best-intending critics should hold their tongues while a larger effort unfolds.
—Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Mar. 2025
Reacher introduces himself in the man’s native tongue.
—Chris Klimek, Vulture, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tongue
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongue
Noun
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Subtitles are easy to add to film, but, for the most part, they were used only when actors and audiences spoke different languages.—
David Owen,
New Yorker,
21 Apr. 2025
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Pope Francis preached the same gospel in different language.—
John Hope Bryant,
Time,
21 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The examples are countless, and, behind the expansion of vocabulary, there is always a foundation that is likely forgotten or plainly unknown by people who adopt it via popular culture.—
Lawrence Burney,
Pitchfork,
18 Apr. 2025
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For those of us old enough to remember Martin (or caught up through reruns), that phrase is etched into our pop culture vocabulary.—
Angel Diaz,
Billboard,
15 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Coogler wanted to ensure that neither of those characters would turn into caricatures, and had Jordan work with a dialect coach to aid in that and even asked twin filmmakers Logan and Noah Miller to consult on the film, helping him on the screenplay too.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
16 Apr. 2025
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Currently, African languages and dialects are underrepresented due to a lack of data and there are often biases in training data, such as facial recognition systems that struggle with darker skin tones.—
Nell Lewis,
CNN Money,
3 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Ultimately, Andrews and his actors find Chekhov by abandoning the paraphernalia of the writer’s universe and groping, in their own idiom, across a perilously empty stage, toward one another.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
4 Apr. 2025
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Which is fitting for a composer who, even when developing a homegrown idiom of his own, was criticized for sounding too European.—
Joshua Barone,
New York Times,
17 Feb. 2025
Video
An Abbreviated History of American English Spelling
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Cite this Entry
“Tongue.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tongue. Accessed 27 Apr. 2025.
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