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Idiom

7 dictionary results for: idiom

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

id·i·om

[id-ee-uh

m] Pronunciation Key

–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

]

—Synonyms 1. See phrase.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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.]

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

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

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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
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.”)

[Chapter:] Conventions of Written English

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Idiom

Di"a*lect\, n. [F. dialecte, L. dialectus, fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to converse, discourse. See Dialogue.]

1. Means or mode of expressing thoughts; language; tongue; form of speech.

This book is writ in such a dialect As may the minds of listless men affect. Bunyan. The universal dialect of the world. --South.

2. The form of speech of a limited region or people, as distinguished from ether forms nearly related to it; a variety or subdivision of a language; speech characterized by local peculiarities or specific circumstances; as, the Ionic and Attic were dialects of Greece; the Yorkshire dialect; the dialect of the learned.

In the midst of this Babel of dialects there suddenly appeared a standard English language. --Earle.

[Charles V.] could address his subjects from every quarter in their native dialect. --Prescott.

Syn: Language; idiom; tongue; speech; phraseology. See Language, and Idiom.

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