Colloquial – Word of the Day

Colloquial – Word of the Day

Tuba Mansoor
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Pronunciation

kəˈləʊkwɪəl

Meanings and Sample Sentences

  • used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal or literary
    • One was written in an informal colloquial style; the other, in a formal, almost businesslike style.
    • She was instructed to read the sentences in a normal, colloquial way
    • In Austria, schnaps is a colloquial term that historically references distilled fruit brandy

Related words

informal, conversational, everyday, casual, non-literary; natural, unofficial, unpretentious, familiar, chatty, friendly, idiomatic, slangy; vernacular, popular, demotic

More Examples

  • Some students have a good grasp of colloquial language .
  • To use an US Army colloquial term, he is a “No Go” for the cabinet post .
  • I could just understand enough of the colloquial language to grasp all this

Trivia

Colloquial is derived from the latin word colloquium. It is ironic that colloquium refers to formal conversation whereas colloquial refers specifically to informal conversation.