Definition of dialect in English:

noun

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  1A particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group.

  ‘the Lancashire dialect seemed like a foreign language’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Although there is some overlap, dialect regions are generally separated by tracts of mostly unused sagebrush or forested areas.’
  • ‘So, no prizes for guessing what this week's dialect word is.’
  • ‘He was a formidable linguist, speaking 25 languages and many more dialects.’
  • ‘The Jutes settled in and near Kent, but the dialect for the region is known as Kentish, not Jutish.’
  • ‘The Thai language has four main dialects, and many regional expressions, so there is plenty of margin for error in communication.’
  • ‘He yelled at me in an archaic dialect of Spanish, and I understood every word.’
  • ‘So we might plausibly imagine that these four varieties constitute dialects of one language.’
  • ‘Many families speak Alsacien, a dialect peculiar to the region, quite different from either French or German.’
  • ‘My mother broke the news to me in our native Hokkien Chinese dialect.’
  • ‘Or do we speak slightly different dialects of English?’
  • ‘He was listening to a Yorkshire dialect poetry reading.’
  • ‘People in lower socioeconomic groups take public transportation and are more likely to use regional dialects.’
  • ‘It's not helpful to shame people for their dialects, the sociolinguists seem to say.’
  • ‘By using the dialect the way she does, the reader gets a better understanding of the atmosphere.’
  • ‘Linguistic science has long recognized that all dialects of a language are linguistically complex and rule governed.’
  • ‘The two official languages in Hong Kong are Chinese (mainly the local Cantonese dialect) and English.’
  • ‘Guyanese speak Creole dialects of English with varying ethnic lexical imprints.’
  • ‘Informally, most residents speak a local English-based Creole dialect.’
  • ‘The terms refer to different dialects of the spoken Chinese language.’
  • ‘There can therefore be no doubt that the scribe was a dialect speaker.’

  Synonyms

  regional language, local language, local tongue, local speech, local parlance, variety of language

  vernacular, patois, non-standard language, idiom

  regionalisms, localisms, provincialisms

  lingo, local lingo, -ese, -speak

  acrolect, basilect, sociolect, idiolect

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1Computing
     A particular version of a programming language.
     Example sentences

     • ‘Logix developers build their programs with either the standard or base Logix dialects.’
     • ‘The company has developed a dialect of C to create code for the microengines.’
     • ‘It allows two services to communicate even if they speak two dialects of XML.’