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vernacular

Noun CEFR C2 Specialized
vəˈnækjələ

Definitions

  1. The language of a people or a national language.
  2. Everyday speech or dialect, including colloquialisms, as opposed to standard, literary, liturgical, or scientific idiom.
  3. Language unique to a particular group of people.
  4. A language lacking standardization or a written form.
  5. Indigenous spoken language, as distinct from a literary or liturgical language such as Ecclesiastical Latin.
  6. A style of architecture involving local building materials and styles; not imported.

Equivalents

26 more languages

Examples

“The principal vernacular of the United States is English.”
“The idea that the Bible should be translated into vernaculars was explosive in medieval society.”
“Near-synonyms: basilect, demotic”
“Street vernacular can be quite different from what is heard elsewhere.”
“Near-synonyms: jargon, argot, dialect, slang”
“For those of a certain age, hiphop vernacular might just as well be a foreign language.”
“Vatican II, a church council in the 1960s, allowed the celebration of the mass in the vernacular.”

CEFR level

C2
Mastery
This word is part of the CEFR C2 vocabulary — mastery level.
See all C2 English words →

See also

vernacular architecture vernacular dance vernacular dialect vernacular name vernacular school vernacular variety

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