- a variation of native language.
first language
Britishnoun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The majority of children who are getting support as part of the project have English as a first language.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
It’s a really fast-moving show, and if English is not your first language, like for my parents, then it’s quite hard to follow along.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026
She doesn’t feel comfortable speaking Spanish because she doesn’t know how to speak it anymore, even though it was her first language.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2026
Some were less comfortable with the possibility of false positives, since there are often autistic people, or users whose first language isn’t English, whose writing styles are stigmatized as A.I.-like.
From Slate ● Apr. 1, 2026
Grandma had started speaking only in Spanish, her first language, as she became weaker, so I didn’t understand a lot of what she was saying.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
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.
