IDIOM • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Idiom

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/ˈɪdiəm/ Listen

noun

Idiom n.

1.

The syntactical or structural form peculiar to any language; the genius or cast of a language. "Idiom may be employed loosely and figuratively as a synonym of language or dialect, but in its proper sense it signifies the totality of the general rules of construction which characterize the syntax of a particular language and distinguish it from other tongues." "By idiom is meant the use of words which is peculiar to a particular language." "He followed their language (the Latin), but did not comply with the idiom of ours."

2.

An expression conforming or appropriate to the peculiar structural form of a language. "Some that with care true eloquence shall teach, And to just idioms fix our doubtful speech."

3.

A combination of words having a meaning peculiar to itself and not predictable as a combination of the meanings of the individual words, but sanctioned by usage; as, an idiomatic expression; less commonly, a single word used in a peculiar sense. "It is not by means of rules that such idioms as the following are made current: "I can make nothing of it." "He treats his subject home.". "It is that within us that makes for righteousness."." "Sometimes we identify the words with the object though by courtesy of idiom rather than in strict propriety of language."

4.

The phrase forms peculiar to a particular author; as, written in his own idiom. "Every good writer has much idiom."

5.

Dialect; a variant form of a language.

Synonyms: Dialect. Idiom, Dialect. The idioms of a language belong to its very structure; its dialects are varieties of expression ingrafted upon it in different localities or by different professions. Each county of England has some peculiarities of dialect, and so have most of the professions, while the great idioms of the language are everywhere the same. See Language.

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Etymology of 'Idiom'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Idiom" Quotes from Famous Books

... as partners in the labours of harvest. In my fifteenth autumn, my partner was a bewitching creature, a year younger than myself. My scarcity of English denies me the power of doing her justice in that language, but you know the Scottish idiom: she was a "bonnie, sweet, sonsie lass." In short, she, altogether unwittingly to herself, initiated me in that delicious passion, which, in spite of acid disappointment, gin-horse prudence, and bookworm ...

— The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. • Robert Burns and Allan Cunningham

... said, not with a broad accent, but with a subdued trace of Irish in the inflection and idiom. ...

— Duffels • Edward Eggleston

... tiresome and difficult a Piece of Work it is to translate, nor how little valued in the World. My Experience has convinced me, that 'tis more troublesome and teazing than to write and invent at once. The Idiom of the Language out of which one translates, runs so in the Head, that 'tis next to impossible not to fall frequently into it. And the more bald and incorrect the Stile of the Original is, the more shall that of the Translation ...

— Franco-Gallia • Francis Hotoman

... for simplicity and clearness among all literatures. Besides, he compares with the French writers of the middle ages in his disregard of "style." It is true, he handles with ease Hebrew and Aramaic, or, rather, the rabbinical idiom, which is a mixture of the two. But he is not a writer in the true sense of the word. His language is simple and somewhat careless, and his writing lacks all traces of ...

— Rashi • Maurice Liber

... themselves a special language borrowed from the conversation of the studios, the jargon of behind the scenes, and the discussions of the editor's room. All the eclecticisms of style are met with in this unheard of idiom, in which apocalyptic phrases jostle cock and bull stories, in which the rusticity of a popular saying is wedded to extravagant periods from the same mold in which Cyrano de Bergerac cast his tirades; ...

— Bohemians of the Latin Quarter • Henry Murger

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