argot
Americannoun
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a specialized idiomatic vocabulary peculiar to a particular class or group of people, especially that of an underworld group, devised for private communication and identification.
a Restoration play rich in thieves' argot.
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the special vocabulary and idiom of a particular profession or social group.
sociologists' argot.
noun
Other Word Forms
- argotic adjective
Etymology
Origin of argot
1855–60; < French, noun derivative of argoter to quarrel, derivative Latin ergō ergo with v. suffix -oter
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Luxuriates in language. Everett, like Twain, is a master of American argot. … This is Everett’s most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful.”
From New York Times
That means seeking them out where they are and speaking in their argot.
From New York Times
In the argot of the credit bureaus, tradelines are just another word for all the accounts listed on a credit report — credit cards, loans and mortgages are all tradelines.
From New York Times
But even here — under a tangle of rope and lace, designed by Rajha Shakiry, that seems to literalize the World Wide Web — the argot of social media invades.
From New York Times
In the argot of A.I. engineers, a program “hallucinates” when it generates falsehoods.
From New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
