language

language
lan|guage [ `læŋgwıdʒ ] noun ***
1. ) uncount the method of human communication using spoken or written words:
Linguistics is the study of language and how people use it.
language skills (=the ability to use a language, especially a foreign language, well): They have no money, no home, no food, and no language skills.
a ) the style or types of words used by a person or group:
slightly formal language
He was shocked at how crude their language was.
bad/foul language (=language that might offend people): My kids have started using the foul language they hear on television.
ordinary/plain language: In ordinary language, larceny means stealing or theft.
spoken language: a comparison between spoken and written language
strong language (=swearing): Mrs. Beeson did not normally use strong language, and certainly not in public.
b ) mind/watch your language to make sure you use words that will not offend people:
Just you watch your language, snarled Swain.
2. ) count the particular form of words and speech used by the people of a country, area, or social group:
There is a legacy of African languages in many parts of the Caribbean.
English and French are the official languages of Canada.
common language: Their only common language was English (=they all knew how to speak it).
speak a language: An announcer spoke a language Richard had never heard before.
3. ) count or uncount signs, symbols, sounds, and other methods of communicating information, feelings, or ideas:
the language of dance
the language of mathematics
a ) a system of instructions used to program a computer:
Which computer languages do you know?
speak/talk the same language
to have the same ideas and attitudes as someone else
=> BODY LANGUAGE, FIRST LANGUAGE, NATURAL LANGUAGE, SECOND LANGUAGE

Usage of the words and phrases in modern English. 2013.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу
Synonyms:
, / , , / , , , , / , ,


Look at other dictionaries:

  • language — lan‧guage [ˈlæŋgwɪdʒ] noun 1. [countable, uncountable] a system of speaking and writing used by people in one country or area: • the French language • Do you speak any foreign languages? • Trading in Europe means communicating in more than one… …   Financial and business terms

  • Language — Lan guage, n. [OE. langage, F. langage, fr. L. lingua the tongue, hence speech, language; akin to E. tongue. See {Tongue}, cf. {Lingual}.] [1913 Webster] 1. Any means of conveying or communicating ideas; specifically, human speech; the expression …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • language — I noun communication, composition, dialect, expression, faculty of speech, folk speech, form of expression, formulation, idiom, jargon, lingua, linguistics, means of communication, oral, oratio, parlance, phrasing, phraseology, rhetoric, sermo,… …   Law dictionary

  • Language — Lan guage, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Languaged}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Languaging}.] To communicate by language; to express in language. [1913 Webster] Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that they have a double sense. Fuller. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • language — language, philosophy of …   Philosophy dictionary

  • language — /lang gwij/, n. 1. a body of words and the systems for their use common to a people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition: the two languages of Belgium; a Bantu language; the French… …   Universalium

  • Language — This article is about the properties of language in general. For other uses, see Language (disambiguation). Cuneiform is one of the first known forms of written language, but spoken language is believed to predate writing by tens of thousands of… …   Wikipedia

  • language — n. linguistic system of communication 1) to use a language 2) to plan; standardize a language 3) to learn, master a language 4) to speak (in) a language 5) to butcher, murder; enrich; purify a language 6) (the) spoken; written language 7) one s… …   Combinatory dictionary

  • language — noun 1 system of communication ADJECTIVE ▪ first, native ▪ She grew up in Mexico, so her first language is Spanish. ▪ foreign, second ▪ How many foreign languages does she speak? …   Collocations dictionary

  • language —    In religion, issues of language and meaning are highly significant. A religion based on a text has to determine what the text means, and although this might have been clear to those who were present when the revelation of the Qur’an was given… …   Islamic philosophy dictionary

  • LANGUAGE —    The Etruscan language does not survive as a literary record and has to be largely reconstructed from funerary inscriptions and some words recorded by later authors. The surviving evidence of the Etruscan language comes from a restricted… …   Historical Dictionary of the Etruscans

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”