Idiom definition | Dictionary.com

id⋅i⋅om

[id-ee-uh

–noun

an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, as kick the bucket or hang one's head, or from the general grammatical rules of a language, as the table round for the round table, and that is not a constituent of a larger expression of like characteristics.

2.	a language, dialect, or style of speaking peculiar to a people.

3.	a construction or expression of one language whose parts correspond to elements in another language but whose total structure or meaning is not matched in the same way in the second language.

4.	the peculiar character or genius of a language.

5.	a distinct style or character, in music, art, etc.: the idiom of Bach.

Origin:
1565–75; < L idiōma < Gk idíōma peculiarity, specific property equiv. to idiō- (var. s. of idioûsthai to make one's own, appropriate, v. deriv. of idiós; see idio- ) + -ma n. suffix of result

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Language Translation for : Idiom

Spanish:

locución, modismo, frase hecha,

German:

das Idiom,

Japanese:

慣用句

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id·i·om (ĭd'ē-əm) Pronunciation Key
n.

A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements, as in keep tabs on.
The specific grammatical, syntactic, and structural character of a given language.
Regional speech or dialect.
1. A specialized vocabulary used by a group of people; jargon: legal idiom.
2. A style or manner of expression peculiar to a given people: "Also important is the uneasiness I've always felt at cutting myself off from my idiom, the American habits of speech and jest and reaction, all of them entirely different from the local variety" (S.J. Perelman).
A style of artistic expression characteristic of a particular individual, school, period, or medium: the idiom of the French impressionists; the punk rock idiom.

[Late Latin idiōma, idiōmat-, from Greek, from idiousthai, to make one's own, from idios, own, personal, private; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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idiom

1588, "form of speech peculiar to a people or place," from M.Fr. idiome, from L.L. idioma "a peculiarity in language," from Gk. idioma "peculiarity, peculiar phraseology," from idioumai "I make my own," from idios "personal, private," prop. “particular to oneself,” from PIE *swed-yo-, suffixed form of base *s(w)e-, pronoun of the third person and reflexive (referring back to the subject of a sentence), also used in forms denoting the speaker's social group, "(we our-)selves" (cf. Skt. svah, Avestan hva-, O.Pers. huva "one's own," khva-data "lord," lit. "created from oneself;" Gk. hos "he, she, it;" L. suescere "to accustom, get accustomed," sodalis "companion;" O.C.S. svoji "his, her, its," svojaku "relative, kinsman;" Goth. swes "one's own;" O.N. sik "oneself;" Ger. Sein; O.Ir. fein "self, himself"). Idiomatic is first attested 1712.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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idiom
noun
1.	a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language [syn: parlance]
2.	the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people; "the immigrants spoke an odd dialect of English"; "he has a strong German accent"; "it has been said that a language is a dialect with an army and navy" [syn: dialect]
3.	the style of a particular artist or school or movement; "an imaginative orchestral idiom" [syn: artistic style]
4.	an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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idiom

A traditional way of saying something. Often an idiom, such as “under the weather,” does not seem to make sense if taken literally. Someone unfamiliar with English idioms would probably not understand that to be “under the weather” is to be sick. (See examples under “Idioms.”)

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Idiom

Id"i*om\, n. [F. idiome, L. idioma, fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to make a person's own, to make proper or peculiar; prob. akin to the reflexive pronoun ?, ?, ?, and to ?, ?, one's own, L. suus, and to E. so.]

1. The syntactical or structural form peculiar to any language; the genius or cast of a language.

Idiom may be employed loosely and figuratively as a synonym of language or dialect, but in its proper sense it signifies the totality of the general rules of construction which characterize the syntax of a particular language and distinguish it from other tongues. --G. P. Marsh.

By idiom is meant the use of words which is peculiar to a particular language. --J. H. Newman.

He followed their language [the Latin], but did not comply with the idiom of ours. --Dryden.

2. An expression conforming or appropriate to the peculiar structural form of a language; in extend use, an expression sanctioned by usage, having a sense peculiar to itself and not agreeing with the logical sense of its structural form; also, the phrase forms peculiar to a particular author.

Some that with care true eloquence shall teach, And to just idioms fix our doubtful speech. --Prior.

Sometimes we identify the words with the object -- though be courtesy of idiom rather than in strict propriety of language. --Coleridge.

Every good writer has much idiom. --Landor.

It is not by means of rules that such idioms as the following are made current: "I can make nothing of it." "He treats his subject home." Dryden. "It is that within us that makes for righteousness." M.Arnold. --Gostwick (Eng. Gram. )

3. Dialect; a variant form of a language.

Syn: Dialect.

Usage: Idiom, Dialect. The idioms of a language belong to its very structure; its dialects are varieties of expression ingrafted upon it in different localities or by different professions. Each county of England has some peculiarities of dialect, and so have most of the professions, while the great idioms of the language are everywhere the same. See Language.

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