idiolect

Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of idiolect Attackers can mimic the distinct idiolect of the target. Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 18 Nov. 2023 That’s where idiolect comes into play. Erica Sweeney, Men's Health, 8 Feb. 2023 Butler appears to have picked up Elvis’s idiolect, Howell says. Erica Sweeney, Men's Health, 8 Feb. 2023 Sherif’s music exists in the space between autobiographical and his own idiolect. Jayson Buford, Rolling Stone, 3 June 2022 And then there’s his inborn ear for every shade of human babble, here a transcendent four-hander, there a screwball travelogue, everywhere argot and idiolect and argument. New York Times, 23 Apr. 2020 His writing conveys an extraordinary ear for accent, rhythm, and idiolect. Maya Jasanoff, The New Republic, 22 Aug. 2019 Kathleen is relentlessly animated and quick-witted, with thick tangerine hair, steely eyes, and an endearing personal idiolect that suggests both an autodidactic reading in philosophy and economics and the gusty crudity of the merchant marine. Gideon Lewis-Kraus, WIRED, 18 June 2018 Sign up for the Backchannel newsletter Movies & TV Dialect coach Erik Singer takes a look at idiolects, better known as the specific way one individual speaks. Jason Parham, WIRED, 21 June 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for idiolect
Noun
  • What could be more revealing, fragile, and intimate — in any dialect — than the loneliness that pushes someone’s attempt to make a friend?
    Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 15 Feb. 2025
  • Even today, traces of French can be found in the local dialect; the Palermitan aristocracy once spoke fluent French and frequently sent their chefs to Paris to master the art of haute cuisine.
    Tiziana Cardini, Vogue, 27 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • Knowing the correct four-word idioms is a sign of education.
    Rachel Chang, Travel + Leisure, 4 Feb. 2025
  • 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
Noun
  • Brain rot is thus a strikingly capacious term, enfolding the psychological and cognitive decay wrought by screen addiction, the bacteria-like content that feeds the addiction, and the argot of a generation for whom much of this content is made.
    Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 16 Dec. 2024
  • Many of the comments used the argot of the online far right.
    David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2024
Noun
  • Plus, since most of the app's content is in Mandarin, subtitles are suddenly rampant — as are posts from Americans who want to learn the language, including by exchanging translations of popular slang phrases with Chinese commenters.
    Rachel Treisman, NPR, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Although challenges remain, future systems trained on greater amounts of non-English data could be capable of discerning subtle differences between dialects and understanding the meaning and cultural context of slang or Internet memes.
    Anne Neuberger, Foreign Affairs, 15 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • And so there’s West Indian patois and language and music and food.
    Vanessa Franko, Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan. 2025
  • There are countless examples like these, in which English scaffolding has adapted to the demands and the cultural heritage of its speakers, from Jamaican patois to Tok Pisin, of New Guinea.
    Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • That means 74% of employees see problems being ignored, downplayed, or spun into meaningless corporate jargon.
    Mark Murphy, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025
  • Interpreted another way, these drops are stacked to form a SLUSH PILE (54A), which is also jargon for a [Common assignment for editorial assistants].
    Sam Corbin, New York Times, 5 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • In the 53 years since the Baker Act took effect, the statute authored by late lawmaker Maxine Baker has entered the Florida vernacular as a verb.
    Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 2 Jan. 2025
  • In the past decade, underground electronic and experimental scenes in Seoul, Manila, Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh, Shanghai, Taipei, Bangkok—the list goes on—began developing their own vernacular and forming a network within Asia.
    James Gui, Pitchfork, 5 Oct. 2024
Noun
  • In business parlance, intent could be reflected through transparently communicating the policies, systems and controls implemented for data privacy and ethics, and also by communicating any gaps and how they will be addressed.
    Expert Panel®, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025
  • The financial brokers who handle such trades have demanded that exporters hand over more cash toward settling up their losses — a margin call, in financial parlance.
    Peter S. Goodman, New York Times, 22 Feb. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Idiolect.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/idiolect. Accessed 4 Mar. 2025.

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