Adjacent Words

Idiom definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ID'IOM, n. [L. idioma, from Gr. proper, or peculiar to one's self; Eng. widow, wide.]
1. A mode of expression peculiar to a language; peculiarity of expression or phraseology. In this sense, it is used in the plural to denote forms of speech or phraseology, peculiar to a nation or language.
And to just idioms fix our doubtful speech.
2. The genius or peculiar east of a language.
He followed the Latin language, but did not comply with the idiom of ours.
3. Dialect.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language [syn: parlance, idiom]
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, idiom, accent]
3: the style of a particular artist or school or movement; "an imaginative orchestral idiom" [syn: artistic style, idiom]
4: an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up [syn: idiom, idiomatic expression, phrasal idiom, set phrase, phrase]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle French & Late Latin; Middle French idiome, from Late Latin idioma individual peculiarity of language, from Greek idi?mat-, idi?ma, from idiousthai to appropriate, from idios Date: 1588 1. a. the language peculiar to a people or to a district, community, or class ; dialect b. the syntactical, grammatical, or structural form peculiar to a language 2. an expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either grammatically (as no, it wasn't me) or in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (as Monday week for “the Monday a week after next Monday”) 3. a style or form of artistic expression that is characteristic of an individual, a period or movement, or a medium or instrument <the modern jazz idiom>; broadly manner, style <a new culinary idiom>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a group of words established by usage and having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (as in over the moon, see the light). 2 a form of expression peculiar to a language, person, or group of people. 3 a the language of a people or country. b the specific character of this. 4 a characteristic mode of expression in music, art, etc. Etymology: F idiome or LL idioma f. Gk idioma -matos private property f. idios own, private

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(idioms) 1. A particular idiom is a particular style of something such as music, dance, or architecture. (FORMAL) McCartney was also keen to write in a classical idiom, rather than a pop one... = style N-COUNT: usu sing, with supp 2. An idiom is a group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the one they would have if you took the meaning of each word separately. (TECHNICAL) Proverbs and idioms may become worn with over-use... = phrase N-COUNT 3. Idiom of a particular kind is the language that people use at a particular time or in a particular place. (FORMAL) ...her command of the Chinese idiom.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Peculiar mode or turn of expression (sanctioned by use in any language). 2. Genius (of a language), characteristic quality. 3. Dialect.

Moby Thesaurus

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