dialect

American  

[dahy-uh-lekt] / ˈdaɪ əˌlɛkt /

noun

• dialects
  plural

1. 

   Linguistics. a variety of a language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same language by features of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and by its use by a group of speakers who are set off from others geographically or socially.

2. a provincial, rural, or socially distinct variety of a language that differs from the standard language, especially when considered as substandard.

   Synonyms:

   patois, idiom

3. a special variety of a language.

   The literary dialect is usually taken as the standard language.

4. a language considered as one of a group that have a common ancestor.

   Persian, Latin, and English are Indo-European dialects.

5. jargon or cant.

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dialect British  

/ ˈdaɪəˌlɛkt /

noun

1. 1. a form of a language spoken in a particular geographical area or by members of a particular social class or occupational group, distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation

   2. a form of a language that is considered inferior

      the farmer spoke dialect and was despised by the merchants

   3. ( as modifier )

      a dialect word

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Synonym Usage

See language.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subdialect
  noun
• dialectal
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• dialects
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dialect

First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin dialectus, from Greek diálektos “discourse, language, dialect,” equivalent to dialég(esthai) “to converse” ( dia- “through, between” + légein “to speak”) + -tos verbal adjective suffix; see origin at dia-

Explanation

If the language you speak in your region is different in vocabulary, grammar and accent than the main form of the language, you speak a dialect. If your cousin in rural Arkansas can't understand your jokes, blame it on differences in dialect. Both an accent and a dialect contain variations in pronunciation from the standard form of a language. When you speak a dialect, however, you also use different words and grammar, sometimes to such a degree that speakers of the dialect and the standard form of the language have a hard time understanding each other.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dialect dialects

Many deaf children in Kenya learn a patchwork of makeshift signs, and the local dialect lacks many technical terms used to teach subjects like maths and biology.

From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026

María’s narration is marked by Colombian slang and the rhythms of its dialect, but it is also mixed with references to Hitchcock films and theories about Rolling Stone Brian Jones’s 1969 death.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

And then there are just simply words in the American dialect that can take me down, like “murderer” or “world,” sometimes “girl” is tricky.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

Characters speak with a more casual, modern dialect.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026

Mom sometimes seemed to lapse into a different dialect when one of her brothers was around.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

Quebeckers accused him, among other things, of “glottophobia”—prejudice against dialects or accents.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

What began as an attempt to unify the Chinese community in Singapore has proven so effective that, some argue, it has driven dialects like Teochew, Hokkien, Cantonese and Hakka into an irreversible decline.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

The film has inadvertently sparked a debate over the government's long-standing push for Chinese Singaporeans to speak Mandarin instead of other languages, or what they call dialects, from China.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

But Twain’s greatest discovery was his gloriously unshackled literary style, which was inspired by local dialects and liberated from European refinements.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

A complete answer to that question would be long and complex, since Western music, like any living language shared by many different communities, has many "local dialects."

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

Related Words

• accent
• idiom
• jargon
• language
• lingo
• patois
• pronunciation
• slang
• terminology
• tongue
• vernacular
• vocabulary