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Definitions (44)

American Heritage Dictionary (12)

noun Communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols.
noun Such a system including its rules for combining its components, such as words.
noun Such a system as used by a nation, people, or other distinct community; often contrasted with dialect.

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Century Dictionary (24)

The whole body of uttered signs employed and understood by a given community as expression of its thoughts; the aggregate of words, and of methods of their combination into sentences, used in a community for communication and record and for carrying on the processes of thought: as, the English language; the Greek language. The languages of the world, each of them unintelligible to the speakers of any other, are very numerous, rather exceeding than falling short of a thousand. Of these, each individual (without reference to his race) acquires for his first language or “mother-tongue” that one which he hears used by those about him in childhood, as he may later learn some other, even to the substitution of it for his “mother-tongue” and oblivion of the latter. Many languages are related with one another—that is, there is such correspondence in their words and forms as shows them to have descended from a common ancestor, or to have reached their present form by gradual divergent alteration of the same original language, since, by the action of its speakers, every living language is undergoing constant change. A body of languages thus related is called a family or stock; and the classification of all human tongues into families is one of the most important results of the study of language. Families then are divided into subordinate divisions called groups, branches, subbranehes, or the like. Examples of families are the Aryan or Indo-European, the Semitic, and so on. (See the various names.) With reference to their relationship to a larger class, languages are also called dialects: thus, Yorkshire and Scotch are dialects of English; English and Dutch are Low-German dialects; German, Slavonic, Celtic, etc., are Aryan dialects. (See dialect.) Languages differ not only in material, but also in regard to structure, or the apparatus of forms, connections, auxiliaries, etc., by which the modifications and relations of ideas are expressed. Some are more synthetic, some more analytic; some are isolating, or destitute of formal distinctions, whether of parts of speech or of inflections; some are agglutinative, or have words made up of parts rather loosely joined together; some have their words, or part of them, more completely integrated, to the complete disguise of their original constituents, and even, in greater or less part, the substitution of an internal change (as in sing, sang, sung, song) for an external (as in love, loved, loving, lover). This characteristic is called inflective, and is seen in highest degree in two of the families (Aryan and Semitic) mentioned above. (See agglutinate.) Languages are usually designated by an adjective formed (in -ish, -an, -ese, -ic, -ine, etc., or without any termination) from the name of the country or people (such adjective used alone, as a noun, being the particular name of the language), as English, Spanish, Scottish, Scotch, Dutch, Welsh, French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Siamese, Gaelic, Arabic, Latin, Greek, etc.; but the name is often of other origin or formation, as Sanskrit, Prakrit. In that lond of Caldee, thei han here propre Langages, and here propre Lettres. Mandeville, Travels, p. 153. After a speach is fully fashioned to the common vnderstanding, & accepted by consent of a whole countrey & nation, it is called a language. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 120.
Power of expression by utterance; the capacities and impulses that lead to the production and use of languages; uttered expression; human speech considered as a whole: as, language is the peculiar possession of man. You taught me language; and my profit on 't Is, I know how to curse. Shak., Tempest, i. 2. 363. The ends of language in our discourse with others being chiefly these three: First, to make known one man's thoughts or ideas to another; secondly, to do it with as much ease and quickness as is possible; and thirdly, thereby to convey the knowledge of things. Language is either abused or deficient, when it fails in any of these three. Locke, Human Understanding, III. x. 23.
The words or expressions appropriate to or especially employed in any branch of knowledge or particular condition of life: as, the language of chemistry; the language of common life.

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Christian and the non-believer, whether their language is Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pushto or any other language spoken in this land of ours. — Pak Tea House
What's New in This Release: [read full changelog] · Help documentation in Chinese language is available. — Softpedia - Windows - All
Despite this difference, the goals and vision that Maria outlined for her curriculum is strikingly similar to those operating in English-language courses: rational and critical awareness of current affairs understanding diversity and respecting others 'values techniques for searching, identifying, selecting and gathering information clear and coherent expression in language (s) knowledge of the concepts, categories, theories and subjects relevant to academic research in the field — Ethical Martini
For those who write in English -- language that is understood on World Wide Web -- the market is even smaller. — Light Within
Colombo, Sri Lanka -- A most valuable and a highly useful Buddhist Dhamma phone conference in Sinhala language has been in operation for the last two years and anybody who wishes to participate can easily join in this noble program. — The Buddhist Channel

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Middle English, from Old French langage, from langue, tongue, language, from Latin lingua; see dn̥ghū- in Indo-European roots.

Century Dictionary (3)

The u is a modern insertion (orig. not pronounced), after F. langue, Latin lingua; from Middle English langage, from Old French langage, French Iangage = Provencal lenguatge, lengatge, lengage = Spanish lenguaje = Portuguese linguage, linguagem = Italian linguaggio, from Middle Latin as if * linguaticum, language (the reg. L. and Middle Latin word being lingua), from Latin lingua (later Italian lingua = Spanish lengua = Portuguese lingoa, lingua = French langue), the tongue, a tongue, language, = English tongue: see tongue.
from language, n.
A corruption, simulating language, of languid, itself apparently a corruption of languet: see languet.

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