modern language

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noun

one of the literary languages currently in use in Europe, as French, Spanish, or German, treated as a departmental course of study in a school, college, or university.

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CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

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Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of modern language

First recorded in 1830–40

Words nearby modern language

modernistic, modernity, modernization, modernize, modern jazz, modern language, modern pentathlon, Modern Persian, modern sequence dancing, modern synthesis, Modersohn-Becker

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use modern language in a sentence

We see detoxing as a path to transcendence, a symbol of modern urban virtue and self-transformation through abstinence.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze|Lizzie Crocker|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Despite the strong language, however, the neither the JPO nor Lockheed could dispute a single fact in either Daily Beast report.
Pentagon Misfires in Stealth Jet Scandal|Dave Majumdar|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The number of dissenters though is unprecedented in the modern era.
Democrats Accidentally Save Boehner From Republican Coup|Ben Jacobs, Jackie Kucinich|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Some of them already are in Germany taking language lessons.
Ghost Ships of the Mediterranean|Barbie Latza Nadeau|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST

“I got the weaver to use his craftsmanship on modern silhouettes we designed,” he said.
The Photographer Who Gave Up Manhattan for Marrakech|Liza Foreman|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“Perhaps you do not speak my language,” she said in Urdu, the tongue most frequently heard in Upper India.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
The east window in this church has been classed as the A1 of modern painted windows.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
I would ask you to imagine it translated into every language, a common material of understanding throughout all the world.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
And all over the world each language would be taught with the same accent and quantities and idioms—a very desirable thing indeed.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
The pipe has a modern look and is altogether unlike those found by the English in use among the Indians in Virginia.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.

British Dictionary definitions for modern language

modern language

noun

any of the languages spoken in present-day Europe, with the exception of English

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