first language
Britishnoun
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even today, "for people who have German as a first language, it's fairly easy to understand," said 66-year-old retiree and festival attendee Sabine Lioy.
From Barron's
The neighborhood around MacArthur Park is made up predominantly of working-class, low-income tenants who speak Spanish as their first language.
From Los Angeles Times
The couple were both first language Welsh speakers who worked in Welsh, spoke Welsh at home with their family and registered every significant life event including their wedding and the birth of their children bilingually.
From BBC
His parents didn’t speak English and taught him Italian as his first language.
From Los Angeles Times
Fourteen of the women did not speak English as their first language and, the report recorded, interpreting was not used consistently in seven of those cases.
From BBC
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.
