Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Colloquial style or quality.
- noun A colloquial expression.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Colloquial style, quality, or usage: as, “a transcript of the colloquialism of the day,”
- noun A word or phrase peculiar to the language of common or familiar conversation.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A colloquial expression, not employed in formal discourse or writing.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
colloquial word or phrase; a common spoken expression, often regional.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Jake's obsessing about his "colloquialism" - meanwhile Obama props his question up to deliver some "on message" remarks regarding energy and healthcare ...
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She seemed to delight in the word, and every time she pronounced it a light came into her old face, and I began to understand her and to feel that I could place her, to use a colloquialism which is so expressive that perhaps its use may be forgiven.
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A definition of the terms: "colloquialism" and "idiom" Instances of their use in the Speech on Conciliation.
Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America Edmund Burke 1763
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"African-American vernacular" is simply a colloquialism, meaning it is unacceptable in any formal situation.
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A: “Who all,” like “you all,” is a common redundant suffixal colloquialism and may be used without disadvantage in all but the most snobbish circles, even though it is not standard English.
The Language Monitor Con Chapman 2011
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The trend has become so prevalent that the term "cougar" is now a commonly used colloquialism.
Louis Licari: The Last Taboo Louis Licari 2011
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Something of the same brassy colloquialism has evidently now burrowed its way onto our wall labels and into our catalogue entries, and would have refused to budge if a few of us had not learned to love our inner stickler, and accepted that there are certain limits to what one can definitely say about the original state of very old things.
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The trend has become so prevalent that the term "cougar" is now a commonly used colloquialism.
Louis Licari: The Last Taboo Louis Licari 2011
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"It's eating our seed corn," said Sen. Bill Nelson D-Fla., referencing the colloquialism that when times are tough, and one is hungry, you're supposed to plant seeds for crop, not eat them.
White House To Rick Scott: We'll Spend Florida's High-Speed Rail Money Elsewhere Sam Stein 2011
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It was no coincidence that willy is the standard British colloquialism for the male sex organ.
William and Kate Christopher Andersen 2011
uselessness commented on the word colloquialism
Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
January 25, 2007
bounceb1tch commented on the word colloquialism
found this very useful for my research :-)
September 19, 2012