lingual

[ ling-gwuhl ]
See synonyms for lingual on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. of or relating to the tongue or some tonguelike part.

  2. pertaining to languages.

  1. Phonetics. articulated with the aid of the tongue, especially the tip of the tongue, as d, n, s, or r.

noun
  1. Phonetics. a lingual sound.

Origin of lingual

1
1350–1400; Middle English: tongue-shaped surgical instrument <Medieval Latin linguālis.See lingua, -al1

Other words from lingual

  • lin·gual·ly, adverb
  • pre·lin·gual, adjective
  • pre·lin·gual·ly, adverb

Words Nearby lingual

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use lingual in a sentence

  • He was daily impressed with the lingual attainments of foreigners and his own lack of them.

  • Shell greyish, spire long and tapering to a point; 12210 teeth on its lingual ribbon.

    Our British Snails | John William Horsley
  • They were bi-lingual, being in English and in coast Arabic, in which dialect Bones was something of a master.

  • In the limpets the lingual ribbon is proportionately long, and is easily removed for examination.

    The Sea Shore | William S. Furneaux

British Dictionary definitions for lingual

lingual

/ (ˈlɪŋɡwəl) /


adjective
  1. anatomy of or relating to the tongue or a part or structure resembling a tongue

    • rare of or relating to language or languages

    • (in combination): polylingual

  1. articulated with the tongue

noun
  1. a lingual consonant, such as Scots (r)

Derived forms of lingual

  • lingually, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012