Definition of DIALECT

dialect

Plural: dialects

Noun

  • A regional or social variety of a language.
  • the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people
    • "the immigrants spoke an odd dialect of English"
    • "it has been said that a language is a dialect with an army and navy"
  • A lect (often a regional or minority language) as part of a group or family of languages, especially if they are viewed as a single language, or if contrasted with a standardized idiom that is considered the 'true' form of the language (for example, Bavarian as contrasted with Standard German).
  • A variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular area, community, or social group, differing from other varieties of the same language in relatively minor ways as regards grammar, phonology, and lexicon.
  • Language that is perceived as substandard or wrong.
  • A language existing only in an oral or non-standardized form, especially a language spoken in a developing country or an isolated region.
  • A variant of a non-standardized programming language.
  • A variant form of the vocalizations of a bird species restricted to a certain area or population.

Examples

  • Home computers in the 1980s had many incompatible dialects of BASIC.
  • Mastering words from different DIALECTs can give you an edge in Words With Friends.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle French dialecte, from Latin dialectos, dialectus, from Ancient Greek διάλεκτος (diálektos, “conversation, the language of a country or a place or a nation, the local idiom which derives from a dominant language”), from διαλέγομαι (dialégomai, “I participate in a dialogue”), from διά (diá, “inter, through”) + λέγω (légō, “I speak”); by surface analysis, dia- + -lect.

Scrabble Score: 10

dialect: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
dialect: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
dialect: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

dialect: valid Words With Friends Word