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.

---

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

---

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

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

He admitted in 2024 that his grasp on the dialect was “horrible.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026

Characters speak with a more casual, modern dialect.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026

He added: "It's the one that we suffer from the most - the social markers, the local dialect, who you are, and where you should be in life, because of how you speak."

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

“So Katrina be gone now from her body?” he asked in his dialect.

From "Gathering Blue" by Lois Lowry

The Prespa lakes region is home to herding peoples, the Vlachs and Sarakatsani, who seem to be vanishing, taking their dialects with them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

“I don’t speak their dialects, but I speak Taiwanese.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Still, young Singaporeans have shown growing interest in connecting with their heritage, from learning the dwindling dialects of their grandparents to taking lessons and organising trips to ancestral hometowns in China.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

At the back of the arena, a teleprompter keeps her on track, too - which is fair enough, when her album incorporates 14 different languages and dialects.

From BBC ● May 6, 2026

But all those 500 Bantu languages are so similar to each other that they have been facetiously described as 500 dialects of a single language.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

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