Standard English

American  

[stan-derd ing-glish, -lish] / ˈstæn dərd ˈɪŋ glɪʃ, -lɪʃ /

noun

1. the English language in its most widely accepted form, adhering to fixed academic norms of spelling, grammar, and usage in written and spoken contexts, and neutralizing nonstandard dialectal variation.

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Etymology

Origin of Standard English

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

This is an artful and convincing reading, and McWhorter carries it out in an impishly forensic manner, proving his thesis that, in some respects, Black English has “more going on” than Standard English.

From The New Yorker • May 8, 2017

Remember, for many Americans, Standard English is only used in formal settings—business and school, but not home.

From Slate • Oct. 1, 2014

Grammarians push Standard English at the expense of other forms, he asserts.

From BBC • May 13, 2013

Standard English was all very well for Anglophone societies, but out there in the wider world, a non-native "decaffeinated English", declared Nerriere, was becoming the new global phenomenon.

From The Guardian • Mar. 29, 2010

From Spenser to Kipling, based on the editor’s Standard English Poems with additions.

From A Northern Countryside by Richards, Rosalind