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modern language

American

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.

modern language British

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

Etymology

Origin of modern language

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

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modern language

“The Odyssey,” in whatever format it is seen, is an epic adventure with emotional undertones beyond the original story and an existential message that resonates far more than its smattering of modern language.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

In February, Anthropic announced the creation of an AI tool that can rewrite Cobol computer code into a modern language.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

The university added all but four of its modern language courses had fewer than 10 students on them and they were currently "unsustainable".

From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025

The earliest evidence is in a language called Sumerian, which doesn’t have any modern language relatives.

From Scientific American ● May 18, 2023

Others have suggested instead that a change in brain organization around that time, without a change in brain size, made modern language possible.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023