lingua
Americannoun
-
linguae
plural
noun
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the technical name for tongue
-
any tongue-like structure
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of lingua
1665–75; < Latin; akin to tongue
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.
See Examples For:
Lego’s effectiveness as a visual lingua franca must be both a point of pride for The Lego Group and, at times, its bane.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
This entails programs to promote standard Chinese as the national lingua franca, instill pride in Chinese cultural heritage and exert stronger central control over regions with large ethnic-minority populations such as Tibet and Xinjiang.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
His Russian has improved in prison, where it is a lingua franca among the inmates.
From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026
The talk was in Spanish, an unremarkable fact given the language has been the lingua franca on most construction sites in Southern California for decades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2025
Mice do not speak Lapine, but there is a very simple, limited lingua franca of the hedgerow and woodland.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Reminded that technically the war was over for Russia, Kisselev confessed a "lapsus linguae."
From Time Magazine Archive
Afterward Mr. Colfax, who was a noted speaker, told me that whenever he made a lapsus linguae, if it amused the audience he never attempted to correct it.
From Memories of a Musical Life by William Mason
The poems ascribed to him possess great spirit, and prove that he was, as Giraldus terms him, "linguae dicacis," in its best sense.
From The itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales by Giraldus Cambrensis
Even a lapsus linguae, "you uns." was unmistakable amidst the high-flown periods.
From Una Of The Hill Country 1911 by Mary Noailles Murfree
In his reply, Mr. Van Buren made his only known lapsus linguae by addressing them as the "Democratic corps."
From Perley's Reminiscences, v. 1-2 of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis by Benjamin Perley Poore
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