applied linguistics

American  

noun

1. linguistic theory as applied to such fields as lexicography, psychology, the teaching of reading, the creation of orthographies, and especially language teaching.

2. the study of practical applications of linguistics, as to telephone engineering, data processing, and data retrieval.

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Etymology

Origin of applied linguistics

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

When she turned 57, Margaret went back to university, graduating with a PhD in applied linguistics.

From BBC • Sep. 7, 2025

Uju Anya, an associate professor of applied linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University, has seen the same Black hair challenges play out since the 1990s, she said.

From Washington Post • Jan. 5, 2023

“With nonbinary people, language is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Rodrigo Borba, a professor of applied linguistics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

From New York Times • Jul. 20, 2022

One subfield of applied linguistics is language acquisition theory, which focuses on the ways in which people learn language.

From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021

It’s a distancing tactic, says Philip Seargeant, senior lecturer in applied linguistics at the Open University.

From The Guardian • Mar. 14, 2017