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idiolect

[ id-ee-uh-lekt ]

noun

, Linguistics.
  1. a person's individual speech pattern. Compare dialect ( def 1 ).


idiolect

/ ˈɪdɪəˌlɛkt /

noun

  1. the variety or form of a language used by an individual
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • ˌidioˈlectal, adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of idiolect1

First recorded in 1945–50; idio- + -lect, as in dialect
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Example Sentences

The voice throughout is not the voice of Hudes at 13 or 16 or 26, but of the mature artist using the brainy, gutsy idiolect that she eventually developed to recall the girl she was.

But Charleton was one of the most active members of the Royal Society in its early years, and his idiolect, tamed and domesticated by Boyle and Sprat, has become the language of science.

And then there’s his inborn ear for every shade of human babble, here a transcendent four-hander, there a screwball travelogue, everywhere argot and idiolect and argument.

Tartt fashions an idiolect for him that is a gift to any writer of a screenplay.

“Everyone has an emotional sense of possession over their own idiolect,” he said.

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