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
Image The theme is the conflict between mother tongues and other tongues.
—
Jesse Green, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2025
Yiddish, the mother tongue of Ashkenazi Jews in Europe for nearly a thousand years, is still spoken by about six hundred thousand ultra-Orthodox Jews mostly concentrated in America, Europe, and Israel.
—Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2025
So to be able to play in my mother tongue would be an amazing experience because there would be no boundaries whatsoever.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
So to be able to play in my mother tongue would be an amazing experience because there would be no boundaries whatsoever.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mother tongue
Jesse Green, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2025
Yiddish, the mother tongue of Ashkenazi Jews in Europe for nearly a thousand years, is still spoken by about six hundred thousand ultra-Orthodox Jews mostly concentrated in America, Europe, and Israel.
—Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2025
So to be able to play in my mother tongue would be an amazing experience because there would be no boundaries whatsoever.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
So to be able to play in my mother tongue would be an amazing experience because there would be no boundaries whatsoever.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 18 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mother tongue
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother tongue
Noun
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Barring any specific language in the Wilkins contract, the Raiders will have an uphill battle to fight.—
Saad Yousuf,
New York Times,
26 July 2025
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The money, which was used to found a range of initiatives including teacher training and English language programs, was suspended by the Trump administration on June 30 pending a review by the federal Office of Management and Budget.—
James Bickerton,
MSNBC Newsweek,
26 July 2025
Noun
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There’s almost a template to the Lexington format and a distinctive vocabulary too.—
Robert F. Moss,
Southern Living,
23 July 2025
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So, in the case of La Tête d’Or, [chef] Daniel [Boulud] had this ambition to create something that was kind of a grand New York steakhouse but with a French influence, which led to a more refined vocabulary, and that led to wanting to elevate the cooking to be on display.—
Sofia Perez,
Forbes.com,
21 July 2025
Noun
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Weeks passed, and the bump remained, despite the tongue’s tendency to heal quickly.—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
People.com,
13 July 2025
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Meanwhile, actual intelligence is sitting there, holding its tongue, waiting for space.—
Stephanie Dillon,
Rolling Stone,
11 July 2025
Noun
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In it, Italian peasants Matteo and Natale discuss this same cosmic occurrence in the rustic Paduan dialect of the time.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
3 July 2025
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Around the table, his family speak the local dialect of the Veneto region.—
James Horncastle,
New York Times,
30 June 2025
Noun
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To quote a homespun idiom, there are different horses for different courses.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
23 July 2025
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Especially in multilingual markets, users frequently mix languages and use non-standard grammar, local idioms, creative spelling and hybrid sentence structures.—
Alessa Cross,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mother tongue.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mother%20tongue. Accessed 30 Jul. 2025.
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