FLUENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fluent mean? 

• FLUENT (adjective)
  The adjective FLUENT has 2 senses:

1. smooth and unconstrained in movement

2. expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively

  Familiarity information: FLUENT used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLUENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Smooth and unconstrained in movement

Synonyms:

fluent; fluid; liquid; smooth

Context example:

the liquid grace of a ballerina

Similar:

graceful (characterized by beauty of movement, style, form, or execution)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively

Synonyms:

eloquent; facile; fluent; silver; silver-tongued; smooth-spoken

Context example:

silver speech

Similar:

articulate (expressing yourself easily or characterized by clear expressive language)

Derivation:

fluency (the quality of being facile in speech and writing)

fluency (skillfulness in speaking or writing)

fluency (powerful and effective language)

 Context examples 

I understood her very well, for I had been accustomed to the fluent tongue of Madame Pierrot.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She spoke in rapid and fluent but very unconventional English, which, for the sake of clearness, I will make grammatical.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

While the ASL-fluent and non-signer groups demonstrated entrainment, it was stronger in the frontal cortex for ASL-fluent participants, compared to non-signers.

(The Rhythms of Sign Language, NSF)

Their speech, though unintelligible to us, was fluent among themselves, and as they pointed to each other and uttered the word Accala many times over, we gathered that this was the name of the nation.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One group was made up of participants who were fluent in ASL, while the other was made up of non-signers.

(The Rhythms of Sign Language, NSF)

The authors postulate that frontal entrainment may be stronger in the fluent signers because they are more able to predict the movements involved and therefore more able to predict and entrain to the rhythms they see.

(The Rhythms of Sign Language, NSF)