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DIALECT
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people
Example:
it has been said that a language is a dialect with an army and navy
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("dialect" is a kind of...):
non-standard speech (speech that differs from the usual accepted, easily recognizable speech of native adult members of a speech community)
Domain member usage:
bang; spang (leap, jerk, bang)
euphonious ((of speech or dialect) pleasing in sound; not harsh or strident)
forrad; forrard; forward; forwards; frontward; frontwards (at or to or toward the front)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dialect"):
eye dialect (the use of misspellings to identify a colloquial or uneducated speaker)
patois (a regional dialect of a language (especially French); usually considered substandard)
Derivation:
dialectal (belonging to or characteristic of a dialect)
Context examples:
Behind them a group of swaggering, half-drunken Yorkshire dalesmen, speaking a dialect which their own southland countrymen could scarce comprehend, their jerkins marked with the pelican, which showed that they had come over in the train of the north-country Stapletons.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
At length one of them called out in a clear, polite, smooth dialect, not unlike in sound to the Italian: and therefore I returned an answer in that language, hoping at least that the cadence might be more agreeable to his ears.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
A sunburnt and black-eyed Brabanter had stood near the old archers, leaning upon a large crossbow and listening to their talk, which had been carried on in that hybrid camp dialect which both nations could understand.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Then came archers of the guard, shrill-voiced women of the camp, English pages with their fair skins and blue wondering eyes, dark-robed friars, lounging men-at-arms, swarthy loud-tongued Gascon serving-men, seamen from the river, rude peasants of the Medoc, and becloaked and befeathered squires of the court, all jostling and pushing in an ever-changing, many-colored stream, while English, French, Welsh, Basque, and the varied dialects of Gascony and Guienne filled the air with their babel.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
