idiom
noun/ˈɪdiəm/ · [ˈɪdɪəm]
Etymology From Middle French idiome, and its source, Late Latin idioma, from Ancient Greek ἰδίωμα (idíōma, “a peculiarity, property, a peculiar phraseology, idiom”), from ἰδιοῦσθαι (idioûsthai, “to make one's own, appropriate to oneself”), from ἴδιος (ídios, “one's own, pertaining to oneself, private, personal, peculiar, separate”). By surface analysis, idi- + -om.
A manner of speaking, a mode of expression peculiar to a language, language family, or group of people.
- In English, idiom requires the indefinite article in a phrase such as "she's an engineer", whereas in Spanish, idiom forbids it.
- Some of the usage prescriptions improved clarity and were kept; others that yielded discordant violations of idiom were eventually revised.
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences A programming construct or phraseology that is characteristic of the language.
- I have to use the same assignment and call to raw_input in two places. How can I avoid that? I can use the while True/break idiom: […]2005, Magnus Lie Hetland, Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional, →ISBN, page 100:
A language or language variety; specifically, a restricted dialect used in a given historical period, context, etc.
- In the idiom of the day, they were sutlers, although today they'd probably be called vendors.
- Many parents and teachers have become irritated to the point of distraction at the way the weed-style growth of "like" has spread through the idiom of the young.2010 January 13, Christopher Hitchens, “The Other L-Word”, in Vanity Fair:
An established phrasal expression whose meaning may not be deducible from the literal meanings of its component words.
- She often spoke in idioms, pining for salad days and complaining about pots calling the kettle black.
- You’re history, we say […]. Surely it is an American idiom. Impossible to imagine a postwar European saying, “You’re history. . . . That’s history,” meaning fuhgeddaboudit, pal.2008, Patricia Hampl, “You’re History”, in Patricia Hampl, Elaine Tyler May, editors, Tell Me True: Memoir, History, and Writing a Life, Minnesota Historical Society, →ISBN, page 134:
An artistic style (for example, in art, architecture, or music); an instance of such a style.
- the idiom of the expressionists
- Synonyms
- dialect, language, languoid, lect, vernacular, expression, form of words, idiotism, locution, phrase
- Derived terms
- bromidiom, idiomacy, idiomatic, idiomatical, idiomatically, idiomaticize, idiom blend, idiomless
- Related terms
- idiolect, idiosyncratic, idiot, phrasal verb