as in language
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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Recent Examples of mother tongue
The font on the album cover is a play on the Geʽez script used in Amharic, her mother tongue.
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Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 20 Sep. 2024
Who among us doesn’t feel — either occasionally or always — like social codes are a chaotic second language that other people were born speaking like a mother tongue?
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2024
And when this Medellín native greets me in his mother tongue, the melody of his voice is nearly as tender as his ballads.
—Patricia Alfonso Tortolani, Allure, 23 July 2024
In this respect, Franklin and Washington, whose language is their hereditary mother tongue, unsophisticated by modern grammar, present as pure models of genuine English, as Addison or Swift.
—Liz Tracey, JSTOR Daily, 19 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for mother tongue 
Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 20 Sep. 2024
Who among us doesn’t feel — either occasionally or always — like social codes are a chaotic second language that other people were born speaking like a mother tongue?
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2024
And when this Medellín native greets me in his mother tongue, the melody of his voice is nearly as tender as his ballads.
—Patricia Alfonso Tortolani, Allure, 23 July 2024
In this respect, Franklin and Washington, whose language is their hereditary mother tongue, unsophisticated by modern grammar, present as pure models of genuine English, as Addison or Swift.
—Liz Tracey, JSTOR Daily, 19 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for mother tongue
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother tongue
Noun
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For example, 22 policies (44.0%) did not include language stating that parents must be notified of incidents as soon as possible.Nolan McKendry | The Center Square, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 16 Dec. 2024
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Onto the page spilled more than ten thousand lines of the richest and most resourceful blank verse in the English language, arranged into ten books in 1667, then rearranged into twelve in 1674.Merve Emre, The New Yorker, 16 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The future of communicating with buyers and customers is less about impressive vocabulary and more about genuine connection.Renae Gregoire, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024
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McBride possesses a skill that few of his peers can claim: a vocabulary for critically analyzing screen acting and how its gestures and movements cohere with the director and cinematographer’s tools.Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 4 Dec. 2024
Noun
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With sharp jokes delivered by her sharper tongue, comic Nikki Glaser has skewered everyone from Rob Lowe to Alec Baldwin at various celebrity roasts.Eric Andersson, People.com, 18 Dec. 2024
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Babies with darker skin may develop grey lips, tongue, ears, and skin.Katherine Hignett, Forbes, 18 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Jones and Brody learned Hungarian and worked with a dialect coach for the movie.Carole Horst, Variety, 17 Dec. 2024
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Turns out, dat good ole dialect is a put-on: James speaks like a professor.Rachel Flynn, People.com, 3 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The versatile, always-all-in Mars is a worthy lodestar for Rosé and Rosie, an album that whirls through 21st-century pop idioms with aplomb even as its heroine ruminates on heartache and anxiety.Maura Johnston, Rolling Stone, 6 Dec. 2024
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Perhaps that’s why his debut album as Chanel Beads is filled with self-help idioms and reflections on internal conflicts.Pitchfork, Pitchfork, 3 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near mother tongue
Cite this Entry
“Mother tongue.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mother%20tongue. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.
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