Wartime

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Dialect (noun)
dialect [dahy-uh-lekt]

noun
1. Linguistics., a variety of a language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same language by features of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and by its use by a group of speakers who are set off from others geographically or socially.
2. a provincial, rural, or socially distinct variety of a language that differs from the standard language, especially when considered as substandard.
3. a special variety of a language.: The literary dialect is usually taken as the standard language.
4. a language considered as one of a group that have a common ancestor.: Persian, Latin, and English are Indo-European dialects.
5. jargon or cant.

Other Word Forms
dialectal adjective
subdialect noun

Related Words
accent, idiom, jargon, language, lingo, patois, pronunciation, slang, terminology, tongue, vernacular, vocabulary

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Synonyms
2. patois, idiom

Synonym Study
See language.

Origin: First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin dialectus, from Greek diálektos “discourse, language, dialect,” equivalent to dialég(esthai) “to converse” ( dia- “through, between” + légein “to speak”) + -tos verbal adjective suffix; dia-

Example Sentences
Jones also had to swap her British accent out for a thick, distinctive Delco accent, as the dialect spoken by those from Delaware County is affectionately called.
From Los Angeles Times

She has to know the city, its peoples, dialects, and languages.
From Los Angeles Times

The 37-year-old former Doctor Who star, who grew up in Inverness, posted on Instagram that "my dialect coach can sit this one out".
From BBC

"It betrays your class. It betrays your origin. All over the world people are trying to reclaim accents and dialects that have been lost."
From BBC

I had a great dialect coach called Jude McSpadden who was fantastic, and she kept me on track.
From Los Angeles Times