colloquialism

[kuh-loh-kwee-uh-liz-uhm]

noun

1. a colloquial expression.

2. colloquial style or usage.

colloquialism

/ kəˈləʊkwɪəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. a word or phrase appropriate to conversation and other informal situations

2. the use of colloquial words and phrases

Other Word Forms

• colloquialist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of colloquialism¹

First recorded in 1800–10; colloquial + -ism

Example Sentences

“I laugh because I’m like, con el nopal en la frente,” she said, lightly slapping her forehead after uttering a colloquialism often used to emphasize someone’s evident Mexican roots via their appearance.

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Almost everyone who frequents the market are Chapines, a popular colloquialism used to refer to someone of Guatemalan descent.

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“Dooring” and “doored,” colloquialisms among bicyclists, refer to a collision caused by a driver or passenger opening a car door into an oncoming cyclist.

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“There they said that ‘Venezuelans are ñucos, they are donkeys,’” he recounted, using a colloquialism that means ignorant or uneducated.

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“Gun embodiment gets at the idea of the old colloquialism ‘When you’re holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail.’”

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