dialect definition

1. Means or mode of expressing thoughts; language; tongue; form of speech. "This book is writ in such a dialect As may the minds of listless men affect. Bunyan. The universal dialect of the world." (South)

2. The form of speech of a limited region or people, as distinguished from ether forms nearly related to it; a variety or subdivision of a language; speech characterised by local peculiarities or specific circumstances; as, the Ionic and Attic were dialects of Greece; the Yorkshire dialect; the dialect of the learned. "In the midst of this Babel of dialects there suddenly appeared a standard English language." (Earle) "[Charles V] could address his subjects from every quarter in their native dialect." (Prescott)

Synonyms: Language, idiom, tongue, speech, phraseology. See Language, and Idiom.

Origin: F. Dialecte, L. Dialectus, fr. Gr, fr. To converse, discourse. See Dialogue.