LANGUAGE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does language mean? 

• LANGUAGE (noun)
  The noun LANGUAGE has 6 senses:

1. a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols

2. (language) communication by word of mouth

3. the text of a popular song or musical-comedy number

4. the cognitive processes involved in producing and understanding linguistic communication

5. the mental faculty or power of vocal communication

6. a system of words used to name things in a particular discipline

  Familiarity information: LANGUAGE used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LANGUAGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

language; linguistic communication

Context example:

the speed with which a program can be executed depends on the language in which it is written

Hypernyms ("language" is a kind of...):

communication (something that is communicated by or to or between people or groups)

Domain member category:

expressive style; style (a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period)

accent; accent mark (a diacritical mark used to indicate stress or placed above a vowel to indicate a special pronunciation)

language; oral communication; speech; speech communication; spoken communication; spoken language; voice communication ((language) communication by word of mouth)

alphabetize (provide with an alphabet)

crystal clear; limpid; lucid; luculent; pellucid; perspicuous ((of language) transparently clear; easily understandable)

well-turned ((of language) aptly and pleasingly expressed)

uncorrupted; undefiled ((of language) not having its purity or excellence debased)

synchronic (concerned with phenomena (especially language) at a particular period without considering historical antecedents)

diachronic; historical (used of the study of a phenomenon (especially language) as it changes through time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "language"):

usage (the customary manner in which a language (or a form of a language) is spoken or written)

slanguage (language characterized by excessive use of slang or cant)

barrage; bombardment; onslaught; outpouring (the rapid and continuous delivery of linguistic communication (spoken or written))

linguistic string; string of words; word string (a linear sequence of words as spoken or written)

interlanguage; koine; lingua franca (a common language used by speakers of different languages)

natural language; tongue (a human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language)

superstrate; superstratum (the language of a later invading people that is imposed on an indigenous population and contributes features to their language)

indigenous language (a language that originated in a specified place and was not brought to that place from elsewhere)

metalanguage (a language that can be used to describe languages)

artificial language (a language that is deliberately created for a specific purpose)

sign language; signing (language expressed by visible hand gestures)

object language; target language (the language into which a text written in another language is to be translated)

source language (a language that is to be translated into another language)

words (language that is spoken or written)

dead language (a language that is no longer learned as a native language)

native language (the language that a person has spoken from earliest childhood)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(language) communication by word of mouth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

language; oral communication; speech; speech communication; spoken communication; spoken language; voice communication

Context example:

he recorded the spoken language of the streets

Hypernyms ("language" is a kind of...):

auditory communication (communication that relies on hearing)

Domain category:

language; linguistic communication (a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "language"):

words (the words that are spoken)

orthoepy; pronunciation (the way a word or a language is customarily spoken)

conversation (the use of speech for informal exchange of views or ideas or information etc.)

discussion; give-and-take; word (an exchange of views on some topic)

expression; locution; saying (a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations)

non-standard speech (speech that differs from the usual accepted, easily recognizable speech of native adult members of a speech community)

idiolect (the language or speech of one individual at a particular period in life)

monologue (a long utterance by one person (especially one that prevents others from participating in the conversation))

charm; magic spell; magical spell; spell (a verbal formula believed to have magical force)

dictation (speech intended for reproduction in writing)

monologue; soliloquy (speech you make to yourself)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The text of a popular song or musical-comedy number

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

language; lyric; words

Context example:

the song uses colloquial language

Hypernyms ("language" is a kind of...):

text; textual matter (the words of something written)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "language"):

love lyric (the lyric of a love song)

Holonyms ("language" is a part of...):

song; vocal (a short musical composition with words)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The cognitive processes involved in producing and understanding linguistic communication

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

language; linguistic process

Context example:

he didn't have the language to express his feelings

Hypernyms ("language" is a kind of...):

higher cognitive process (cognitive processes that presuppose the availability of knowledge and put it to use)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "language"):

reading (the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The mental faculty or power of vocal communication

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

language; speech

Context example:

language sets homo sapiens apart from all other animals

Hypernyms ("language" is a kind of...):

faculty; mental faculty; module (one of the inherent cognitive or perceptual powers of the mind)

Meronyms (parts of "language"):

lexis (all of the words in a language; all word forms having meaning or grammatical function)

lexicon; mental lexicon; vocabulary (a language user's knowledge of words)

Domain member category:

verbalise; verbalize (convert into a verb)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A system of words used to name things in a particular discipline

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

language; nomenclature; terminology

Context example:

the language of sociology

Hypernyms ("language" is a kind of...):

word (a unit of language that native speakers can identify)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "language"):

markup language (a set of symbols and rules for their use when doing a markup of a document)

toponomy; toponymy (the nomenclature of regional anatomy)

 Context examples 

The past weeks went slowly but gave you time to check with your lawyer and change some of the language in the contract.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Eating the snake had given him power of understanding the language of animals.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Frontotemporal dementia is a form of dementia that causes changes in personality and behaviour, and language difficulties.

(Mechanism behind neuron death in motor neurone disease and frontotemporal dementia discovered, University of Cambridge)

You make me a liar by such language: you sully my honour.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I am not aware that any other type of language exists in this continent, and I have notes of more than a hundred.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A speech sound that is distinguished by the speakers of a particular language.

(Phoneme, NCI Thesaurus)

He brought with him pen, ink, and paper, and three or four books, giving me to understand by signs, that he was sent to teach me the language.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

‘By your language, stranger, I suppose you are my countryman; are you French?’

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Language is a vital skill, Segaert said.

(Exercise May Help Seniors with Word, Memory Problems, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

From an outside perspective, understanding a spoken language versus a signed language seems like it might involve entirely different brain processes.

(The Rhythms of Sign Language, NSF)