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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of mother tongue
The results were weighted according to age, gender, mother tongue, region, education and presence of children in the household.
—
Dan Perry, Newsweek, 18 Dec. 2024
Likewise, most of the world’s approximately 400 million native English speakers had other mother tongues in their families until relatively recently.
—Ross Perlin, The Dial, 14 Nov. 2024
Reading in Spanish seemed to preclude — in some instances more clearly than others — what was still unthinkable: reading in Mixe, our mother tongue.
—Yásnaya Elena A. Gil (tr. Ellen Jones), The Dial, 26 Nov. 2024
In our Romansh language, which is my mother tongue, Igniv means bird's nest, which is perfect for sharing.
—Jennifer Leigh Parker, Forbes, 13 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for mother tongue 
Dan Perry, Newsweek, 18 Dec. 2024
Likewise, most of the world’s approximately 400 million native English speakers had other mother tongues in their families until relatively recently.
—Ross Perlin, The Dial, 14 Nov. 2024
Reading in Spanish seemed to preclude — in some instances more clearly than others — what was still unthinkable: reading in Mixe, our mother tongue.
—Yásnaya Elena A. Gil (tr. Ellen Jones), The Dial, 26 Nov. 2024
In our Romansh language, which is my mother tongue, Igniv means bird's nest, which is perfect for sharing.
—Jennifer Leigh Parker, Forbes, 13 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for mother tongue
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother tongue
Noun
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The Academy didn’t seem to mind, awarding the film 13 Oscar nods, the most for any non-English language film in history.—
Radhika Seth,
Vogue,
8 Feb. 2025
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The social satire became the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
7 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Regular reading leads to positive impacts on your mental and emotional well-being, including slowing down cognitive decline, bolstering empathy and curiosity, improving your vocabulary and reducing stress.—
Clare Mulroy,
USA TODAY,
28 Jan. 2025
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Nobody had added any new vocabulary or material to this amazing instrument.—
Matthew Jacobs,
Vulture,
16 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Aaliyah Edwards might not be the first name that rolls off the tongue when listing off former UConn women’s basketball players.—
Staff And Wire Reports,
Hartford Courant,
11 Feb. 2025
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The story ends up focusing not on the man who could not remain silent, but on a man who held his tongue.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
10 Feb. 2025
Noun
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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
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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
Noun
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Knowing the correct four-word idioms is a sign of education.—
Rachel Chang,
Travel + Leisure,
4 Feb. 2025
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Glover’s score — for rock band, piano and acoustic strings — evokes pop idioms while politely sidestepping direct quotation.—
Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim,
New York Times,
20 Jan. 2025
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 18 Feb. 2025.
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