Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A particular manner of speaking; idiom: legal parlance.
- n. Speech, especially a conversation or parley.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Speech; conversation; discourse; talk; language; manner of expression; conference.
- n. In common parlance, in the usual mode of speech; in ordinary language.
Wiktionary
- n. A certain way of speaking, of using words, especially when it comes to those with a particular job or interest.
- n. archaic, rare Speech, discussion or debate.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Conversation; discourse; talk; diction; phrase.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language
Etymologies
- From Anglo-Norman parlance, parlaunce, from parler ("to talk") + -ance. (Wiktionary)
- Middle French, from Old French, from parler, to speak; see parley. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Erica - FYI - Opposition Research in campaign parlance is not research you conduct on your opponent, but rather research you do on yourself in an effort to glean what they will find out about you.”
“Narcissism, in psycho-therapeutic parlance, is a term used to indicate a superficial personality type with a hyper-inflated sense of self to compensate for a grievously wounded core.”
The Huffington Post: Judith Acosta, LISW, CHT: Nice But Not Good: The Art of Spotting Narcissists
“He's the guy, in American parlance, who cracks heads, makes it happen, says Joel Rubin, deputy director of the National Security Network, a Washington, D.C., foreign policy think tank.”
USA Today: Suleiman's reputation holds dread for some in Egypt
“The Democrats are still true to their heritage of the party of local notables, or in American parlance of Bourbon Democrats and urban political machines.”
““… The use of the word ‘regime’ in American political parlance is unacceptable, and someone should tell the walrus [Limbaugh] to stop using it.””
Even Chris Matthews doesn’t listen to Chris Matthews. [edited] | RedState
“The term the legacy of slavery, while in popular parlance, is rarely ever quantified.”
“Now Tiger #1 is, in American parlance, a key comic.”
“McCain's Mixed Signals on Foreign Policy" (Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times) In today's parlance, is McCain a "realist" or "neocon"?”
“The definition of design, as used in ID parlance is not associated with intelligence at all, it is simply saying something that is not describable by simple stochastic processes or regularity are designed:”
“The definition of design, as used in ID parlance is not associated with intelligence at all, it is simply saying something that is not describable by simple stochastic processes or regularity are designed”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘parlance’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Muse's tacet ,to learn
Music brings silence's to raging thoughts and temperament , calm, as it is our object of definite purpose.
tacet, cadence, tempo, treble clef, penultimate, lexicon, origin, orchestra, kantele, magus, eros, coalesce and 248 more...
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Language
word, sentence, novel, book, novella, vignette, memoir, anthology, paragraph, stanza, poem, haiku and 123 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 567 more...
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February 2012
filiopietistic, bifurcate, enclave, wedlock, decadent, unduly, defunct, lapel, tumescent, capitulation, leaden, scintilla and 83 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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These words are about words.
words on words. yyep.
codex, folio, lexicon, tome, word stock, wordbook, wordlist, palaver, word index, argot, parlance, doublespeak and 68 more...
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Kalli's Words
redundant, munchkin, escapade, natch, boom, fap, geek, nocturnal, pedantic, tactile, conversant, oxymoron and 188 more...
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Vocabulary Words 2.
cow tow, evident, harassed, egalitarians, anomolous, tenuous, fondly, foment, construe, ingratiate, parlance, spectacular and 96 more...
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words unknown
repeat!!!
laissez faire, propensity, punitive, explicit, whim, extenuating, distort, gross, grossly, hearsay, dispel, apprehensive and 113 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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nominative case collection
wine stopper, pyre, roster, hamper, moleskin, elastic, pinnacle, facsimile, nook, plonk, contortionist, dismay and 342 more...
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Vocab
Words that I come across, and go blank, or want to clarify.
nefarious, edifice, malevolent, ostensible, folderol, bauble, livid, amnesty, calculus, saddlery, maisonette, cuisse and 423 more...
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Bring These Words Back
Antiquated words that need to yet again become part of our daily parlance.
Tweets
Looking for tweets for parlance.

Prolagus Parlance is obviously based on answerance to specific askance. Oct 16, 2009
oroboros Do you too parle vous mon petit bleu? Wee, wee, Sherry! Sep 1, 2007
patchouli I love this word. Preferably with an adjective. e.g. legal parlance Sep 1, 2007
reesetee I agree, seanahan. It seems frilly yet utilitarian to me. Jun 22, 2007
seanahan This is another way to say lingo, vernacular, idiom, etc. I think it sounds less technical, but more high class. Jun 22, 2007