1
as in vocabulary
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 terminology
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 diction
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
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Recent Examples of language
Hitting the target without them would mean revising the bill’s language as well as enormous cuts to remaining programs.
—
Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2025
The o1-preview and R1 AI systems are among the first language models to use large-scale reinforcement learning, a technique that teaches AI not merely to mimic human language by predicting the next word, but to reason through problems using trial and error.
—Harry Booth, TIME, 19 Feb. 2025
Zoom in: Instagram is rolling out the ability for users to schedule messages 29 days in advance and translate messages into 99 different languages directly within DMs.
—Angrej Singh, Axios, 19 Feb. 2025
The Academy didn’t seem to mind, awarding the film 13 Oscar nods, the most for any non-English language film in history.
—Radhika Seth, Vogue, 8 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for language
Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2025
The o1-preview and R1 AI systems are among the first language models to use large-scale reinforcement learning, a technique that teaches AI not merely to mimic human language by predicting the next word, but to reason through problems using trial and error.
—Harry Booth, TIME, 19 Feb. 2025
Zoom in: Instagram is rolling out the ability for users to schedule messages 29 days in advance and translate messages into 99 different languages directly within DMs.
—Angrej Singh, Axios, 19 Feb. 2025
The Academy didn’t seem to mind, awarding the film 13 Oscar nods, the most for any non-English language film in history.
—Radhika Seth, Vogue, 8 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for language
Recent Examples of Synonyms for language
Noun
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The distinct local vocabulary is sprinkled with Guaraní, an Indigenous language widely spoken in neighboring Paraguay.—
Graciela Mochkofsky,
The New Yorker,
11 Feb. 2025
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Pulp Fiction might be the dictionary of his cinematic vocabulary, offering insights into the language of his other works.—
Paul Fitzgerald,
Rolling Stone,
7 Feb. 2025
Noun
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The intricacies of navigating multiple research firms—each with its own methodologies, terminologies and evaluation criteria—can be daunting.—
Reyne Quackenbush,
Forbes,
20 Feb. 2025
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Mexicans, in particular, have many issues with the film, including the violent cartel storyline, lack of Mexican involvement in the film, and the mishmash of accents and terminology.—
Anne Thompson,
IndieWire,
4 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Jason Schwartzman, one of the most innovative actors of recent decades, is too easy to take for granted, because his acting remains inseparable from his utterly unique voice and diction, his air of inescapably sincere whimsy and thoughtful spontaneity.—
Richard Brody,
The New Yorker,
23 Jan. 2025
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Whose diction stays this grand, this ornamented, when they’ve been stripped of everything, perhaps even their sanity?—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
14 Nov. 2024
Noun
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The team even placed small objects in the unconscious animal's mouths, which tongue pulling dislodged.—
Jonathan Lambert,
NPR,
21 Feb. 2025
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Researchers also took a small biopsy of each participant's tongue, to analyze genes tied to taste buds.—
Becky Upham,
EverydayHealth.com,
14 Feb. 2025
Noun
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What could be more revealing, fragile, and intimate — in any dialect — than the loneliness that pushes someone’s attempt to make a friend?—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
15 Feb. 2025
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Even today, traces of French can be found in the local dialect; the Palermitan aristocracy once spoke fluent French and frequently sent their chefs to Paris to master the art of haute cuisine.—
Tiziana Cardini,
Vogue,
27 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Confusion had been caused by the wording of the post by the Premier League’s Match Centre account on X. While the incident with Maguire had clearly been checked, no reference was made to the apparent shirt pull by his fellow defender Matthijs de Ligt on Young.—
Patrick Boyland,
The Athletic,
23 Feb. 2025
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What makes this wording and report a bit strange is there have also been reports indicating that the Rams have already set Stafford's trade value at a first-round pick.—
Mark Joseph,
Newsweek,
22 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Knowing the correct four-word idioms is a sign of education.—
Rachel Chang,
Travel + Leisure,
4 Feb. 2025
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Glover’s score — for rock band, piano and acoustic strings — evokes pop idioms while politely sidestepping direct quotation.—
Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim,
New York Times,
20 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Plus, since most of the app's content is in Mandarin, subtitles are suddenly rampant — as are posts from Americans who want to learn the language, including by exchanging translations of popular slang phrases with Chinese commenters.—
Rachel Treisman,
NPR,
15 Jan. 2025
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Although challenges remain, future systems trained on greater amounts of non-English data could be capable of discerning subtle differences between dialects and understanding the meaning and cultural context of slang or Internet memes.—
Anne Neuberger,
Foreign Affairs,
15 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Language.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/language. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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