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ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Tongue

/tʌŋ/ · noun

Meaning

The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech..

Definitions by Sense

  1. The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech.
  2. (countable, uncountable) Such an organ, as taken from animals and used for food (especially from cows).
  3. Any similar organ, such as the lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk; the proboscis of a moth or butterfly; or the lingua of an insect.
  4. (metonymic) A language.
  5. (obsolete, synecdochic) The speakers of a language, collectively.
  6. (obsolete) A voice, (the distinctive sound of a person's speech); accent (distinctive manner of pronouncing a language).
  7. A manner of speaking, often habitually.
  8. (synecdochic, usually in the plural) A person speaking in a specified manner.

Example Sentences

But lering and lurking here and there like ſpies,
cold tongue with mustard
However you eat them, tongue and chicken and new bread are very good things, and no one minds being sprinkled a little with soda-water on a really fine hot day.
He was speaking in his native tongue.
[…] that great Towre, which is so much renownd For tongues confusion in holie writ,
When I pointed to any thing, she told me the Name of it in her own Tongue, so that in a few Days I was able to call for whatever I had a mind to.
To dwell on a heath without studying its meanings was like wedding a foreigner without learning his tongue.
“You should read Spanish,” he said. “It is a noble tongue. […]”

Synonyms for tongue

glossalinguaidiomlanguagelingomouthspeaking in tonguesclapperspitknifenatural language

Antonyms for tongue

artificial language

Related Words

linguaglossaspitknifeclappernatural languagemouthbluetonguebreastwhistlelensmediumpanhandletabflickingheavytalkerlugnurserytied

Word Forms

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does tongue mean?

Tongue means The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech..

What is a synonym for tongue?

Common synonyms include glossa, lingua, idiom, language.

What is the opposite of tongue?

Possible antonyms include artificial language.

How do you use tongue in a sentence?

But lering and lurking here and there like ſpies,

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.