Definition of Language

1. Noun. A systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols. "The speed with which a program can be executed depends on the language in which it is written"


2. Noun. (language) communication by word of mouth. "He recorded the spoken language of the streets"

3. Noun. The text of a popular song or musical-comedy number. "The song uses colloquial language"
Exact synonyms: Lyric, Words
Generic synonyms: Text, Textual Matter
Group relationships: Song, Vocal
Specialized synonyms: Love Lyric
Derivative terms: Lyric, Lyricist

4. Noun. The cognitive processes involved in producing and understanding linguistic communication. "He didn't have the language to express his feelings"
Exact synonyms: Linguistic Process
Generic synonyms: Higher Cognitive Process
Specialized synonyms: Reading

5. Noun. The mental faculty or power of vocal communication. "Language sets homo sapiens apart from all other animals"
Exact synonyms: Speech
Generic synonyms: Faculty, Mental Faculty, Module
Terms within: Lexis, Lexicon, Mental Lexicon, Vocabulary
Examples of category: Verbalise, Verbalize
Derivative terms: Speak

6. Noun. A system of words used to name things in a particular discipline. "The language of sociology"
Exact synonyms: Nomenclature, Terminology
Generic synonyms: Word
Specialized synonyms: Markup Language, Toponomy, Toponymy
Derivative terms: Terminological

Definition of Language

1. n. Any means of conveying or communicating ideas; specifically, human speech; the expression of ideas by the voice; sounds, expressive of thought, articulated by the organs of the throat and mouth.

2. v. t. To communicate by language; to express in language.

Definition of Language

1. Noun. A form of communication using words either spoken or gestured with the hands and structured with grammar, often with a writing system. ¹

2. Noun. The ability to communicate using words. ¹

3. Noun. (context: countable or uncountable) Nonverbal communication. ¹

4. Noun. (context: computing countable) A computer language. ¹

5. Noun. The vocabulary and usage used in a particular specialist field. ¹

6. Noun. The particular words used in speech or a passage of text. ¹

7. Noun. Profanity. ¹

8. Noun. Words, written or spoken, in a specific sequence that a person uses to describe, to a another person, the type of thoughts in their mind. ¹

9. Verb. To communicate by language; to express in language. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Language

1. a body of words and systems serving as a means of communication [n -S]

Medical Definition of Language

1. 1. Any means of conveying or communicating ideas; specifically, human speech; the expression of ideas by the voice; sounds, expressive of thought, articulated by the organs of the throat and mouth. Language consists in the oral utterance of sounds which usage has made the representatives of ideas. When two or more persons customarily annex the same sounds to the same ideas, the expression of these sounds by one person communicates his ideas to another. This is the primary sense of language, the use of which is to communicate the thoughts of one person to another through the organs of hearing. Articulate sounds are represented to the eye by letters, marks, or characters, which form words. 2. The expression of ideas by writing, or any other instrumentality. 3. The forms of speech, or the methods of expressing ideas, peculiar to a particular nation. 4. The characteristic mode of arranging words, peculiar to an individual speaker or writer; manner of expression; style. "Others for language all their care express." (Pope) 5. The inarticulate sounds by which animals inferior to man express their feelings or their wants. 6. The suggestion, by objects, actions, or conditions, of ideas associated therewith; as, the language of flowers. "There was . . . Language in their very gesture." (Shak) 7. The vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or department of knowledge; as, medical language; the language of chemistry or theology. 8. A race, as distinguished by its speech. "All the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image." (Dan. Iii. 7) Language master, a teacher of languages. Synonym: Speech, tongue, idiom, dialect, phraseology, diction, discourse, conversation, talk. Language, Speech, Tongue, Idiom, Dialect. Language is generic, denoting, in its most extended use, any mode of conveying ideas; speech is the language of articulate sounds; tongue is the Anglo-Saxon tern for language, especially. For spoken language; as, the English tongue. Idiom denotes the forms of construction peculiar to a particular language; dialects are varieties if expression which spring up in different parts of a country among people speaking substantially the same language. Origin: OE. Langage, F. Langage, fr. L. Lingua the tongue, hence speech, language; akin to E. Tongue. See Tongue, cf. Lingual. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Language

langret
langrets
langridge
langridges
langs
langsat
langsats
langset
langshan
langshans
langspel
langspels
langsyne
langsynes
langteraloo
language (current term)
language-agnostic
language-code
language area
language arts
language barrier
language barriers
language code
language codes
language continuum
language development
language development disorders
language disorders
language exchange
language exchanges

Literary usage of Language

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Poetry as a Representative Art: An Essay in Comparative Aesthetics by George Lansing Raymond (1899)
"CHAPTER I. POETRY AND PRIMITIVE language. Introduction—All Art Representative—Poetry an Artistic Development of languagelanguage Representative of Mental ..."

2. Essentials of English Grammar: For the Use of Schools by William Dwight Whitney (1877)
"CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY: language AND GRAMMAR. 3. The English language is the language used by the people of England, and by all who speak like them ..."

3. The philology of the English tongue by John Earle (1880)
"The Philology of a language includes all that is meant by its Grammar, ... This difference hinges upon the point of view from which the language is ..."

4. Medieval Civilization: Selected Studies from European Authors by Dana Carleton Munro, George Clarke Sellery (1907)
"It accompanied the soldiers of the legions, the colons, and the emigrants of every kind, from Italy into the provinces, and thus became the language of the ..."

5. A Greek Grammar for Schools and Colleges by Herbert Weir Smyth (1916)
"INTRODUCTION THE GREEK language AND ITS DIALECTS A. Greek, the language of the inhabitants of ancient Greece, and of other Greeks dwelling in the islands ..."

6. A Complete Manual of English Literature by Thomas Budd Shaw, William Smith, Henry Theodore Tuckerman (1870)
"Traces of the Celtic and Latin periods in the English language. § 4. ... Effects of the Norman conquest upon the English population and language. § 7. ..."

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