dialect
noun
di·a·lect
ˈdī-ə-ˌlekt 
often attributive
1
linguistics
a
: a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language
the Doric dialect of ancient Greek
a dialect of Chinese spoken in Hong Kong
b
: one of two or more cognate (see cognate entry 1 sense 3a) languages
French and Italian are Romance dialects
c
: a variety of a language used by the members of a group
such dialects as politics and advertising—
Philip Howard
Philip Howard
d
: a variety of language whose identity is fixed by a factor other than geography (such as social class)
spoke a rough peasant dialect
f
: a version of a computer programming language
2
: manner or means of expressing oneself : phraseology
Synonyms
Examples of dialect in a Sentence
They speak a southern dialect of French.
The author uses dialect in his writing.
The play was hard to understand when the characters spoke in dialect.
Recent Examples on the Web
Director Brady Corbet denied the allegations, saying that stars Adrian Brody and Felicity Jones worked for months with a dialect coach to perfect their characters’ Hungarian accents, and that only the Hungarian portions of the film were adjusted manually using Respeecher technology.
—Zoe G. Phillips, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Feb. 2025
In his interview with Red Shark News, Jancsó said AI was used to tweak certain parts of the Hungarian dialect spoken by stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones in The Brutalist for the sake of accuracy.
—Tim Lammers, Forbes, 21 Jan. 2025
TikTok took that ecosystem even farther, allowing India’s millions of regional dialect speakers to share content and create digital communities.
—Andrew R. Chow, TIME, 18 Jan. 2025
Racial slurs and offensive dialect were used liberally.
—Joshua Barone, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for dialect 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Zoe G. Phillips, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Feb. 2025
In his interview with Red Shark News, Jancsó said AI was used to tweak certain parts of the Hungarian dialect spoken by stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones in The Brutalist for the sake of accuracy.
—Tim Lammers, Forbes, 21 Jan. 2025
TikTok took that ecosystem even farther, allowing India’s millions of regional dialect speakers to share content and create digital communities.
—Andrew R. Chow, TIME, 18 Jan. 2025
Racial slurs and offensive dialect were used liberally.
—Joshua Barone, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for dialect
Dictionary Entries Near dialect
Cite this Entry
“Dialect.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialect. Accessed 13 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
dialect
noun
di·a·lect
ˈdī-ə-ˌlekt
1
: a regional variety of a language differing from the standard language
2
: a variety of a language used by the members of a particular group or class
peasant dialect
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