idiolect
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of idiolect
Explanation
An idiolect is a person’s specific, unique way of speaking. Everyone has their very own idiolect that differs from the way other people talk. A dialect is a version of a language spoken by a group of people. An idiolect is much smaller — it’s the way a particular person speaks, at a specific time, as distinct from others. This word is mainly used by linguists when discussing differences in speech from one person to another. Like your fingerprint, your idiolect is unique. It’s kind of like a micro-dialect.
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 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.
From New York Times • Nov. 7, 2022
Not since Ghostface Killah or E-40 has a rapper invented such a cryptic and psychedelic idiolect.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2018
It wasn’t long before I noticed, even in my own idiolect, that “awesome” and “sucks” were related as antonyms.
From Scientific American • Sep. 19, 2017
He created an idiolect that had no model.
From The New Yorker • May 4, 2015
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.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
