parlance
Americannoun
-
a way or manner of speaking; vernacular; idiom.
legal parlance.
-
speech, especially a formal discussion or debate.
-
talk; parley.
noun
-
a particular manner of speaking, esp when specialized; idiom
political parlance
-
archaic any discussion, such as a debate
Etymology
Origin of parlance
From Anglo-French, dating back to 1570–80; see origin at parle, -ance
Explanation
The noun parlance means the manner of speaking and using words. Your 15-year-old will tell you that you are definitely not fluent in the parlance of teenagers, no matter how cool you think you are. Parlance comes from the French word parler, meaning "to speak." The noun is often used to refer to the jargon or slang a certain group or industry uses. If you work in the sciences, you'll be familiar with the parlance of scientists and be familiar with such jargon as "goodness of fit" and "iff", which means "if and only if". But if you are not a scientist, you may stumble when you first come across such terms.
Vocabulary lists containing parlance
Just Mercy
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Twelve Years a Slave
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The Boys in the Boat
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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.
Earlier this month, three data centers in western Russia suddenly went dark due to a “rapid unplanned disassembly,” to use euphemistic engineering parlance.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026
In Wall Street parlance, the “buy side” refers to money managers, while the “sell side” refers to brokerage firms.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
But baseball parlance was already in the air.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
“Justice,” in the parlance of the American legal system and true crime podcasts, generally means punishment, which generally means prison.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
I use the term racial caste in this book the way it is used in common parlance to denote a stigmatized racial group locked into an inferior position by law and custom.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
