language
noun
Simple meaning
A system of words and rules used by people to talk to each other
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
langgwuhjSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlæŋɡwədʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
countable
A body of words, and set of methods of combining them (called a grammar), understood by a community and used as a form of communication.
countableuncountablefigurative
The expression of thought (the communication of meaning) in a specified way; that which communicates something, as language does.
countableuncountable
A body of sounds, signs or signals by which animals communicate, and by which plants are sometimes also thought to communicate.
uncountable
The ability to communicate using words.
uncountable
A manner of expression.
A system of words used to name things in a particular discipline
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A body of words, and set of methods of combining them (called a grammar), understood by a community and used as a form of communication.
Used this way, language is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a grammar or language-study use: it describes how language works, so it appears in teaching and reference writing.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Academic writing
- Education/classroom
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use language
- “He didn't have the language to express his feelings.”noun
- “Language sets homo sapiens apart from all other animals.”noun
- “He taught foreign languages.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A large cortical area (in the left hemisphere in most people) containing all the centers associated with language.
Barrier to communication resulting from speaking different languages.
Learning to use a language.
A period of instruction learning a language.
A requirement that a student know certain languages.
A school for teaching foreign languages.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- syntaxnoun
- grammarnoun
- translationnoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: body of words
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.