idiom 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]

idiom imido modii

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 "one's own, of a particular person, personal." Idiomatic is first attested 1712.

idiom noun Etymology: Middle French & Late Latin; Middle French idiome, from Late Latin idioma individual peculiarity of language, from Greek idiōmat-, idiōma, 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>

idiom
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

idiom (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. N-UNCOUNT

idiom ˈɪdɪəm 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. [F idiome or LL idioma f. Gk idioma -matos private property f. idios own, private]

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.

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

idiom ˈɪdɪəm n. 1 language, tongue, speech, vernacular, dialect, argot, patois, jargon, cant, idiolect, parlance, faúon de parler, phraseology: The play is written in a rather old-fashioned idiom. 2 expression, (set) phrase, phrasing, locution, clich÷: The term red herring , an idiom meaning 'false trail', is used of something which is neither red nor a herring.

86 Moby Thesaurus words for "idiom": Acadian, Anglo-Indian, Brooklynese, Cajun, Canadian French, Cockney, French Canadian, Gullah, Midland, Midland dialect, New England dialect, Pennsylvania Dutch, Yankee, Yorkshire, adjectival phrase, argot, bundle of isoglosses, cant, choice of words, class dialect, clause, cliche, composition, construction, dialect, dialect dictionary, diction, expression, formulation, grammar, headed group, idiotism, isogloss, jargon, language, langue, lingo, lingua, linguistic atlas, linguistic community, linguistic island, local dialect, localism, locution, manner of speaking, noun phrase, paragraph, parlance, parole, patois, peculiar expression, period, personal usage, phrasal idiom, phrase, phraseology, phrasing, provincialism, regional accent, regionalism, rhetoric, sentence, set phrase, speech, speech community, standard phrase, subdialect, syntactic structure, talk, term, tongue, turn of expression, turn of phrase, usage, use of words, usus loquendi, utterance, verb complex, verb phrase, verbalism, verbiage, vernacular, way of speaking, word-group, wordage, wording

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