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idiom

noun

id·i·omˈi-dē-əm How to pronounce idiom (audio)

plural idioms

:an expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (such asup in the air for "undecided") or in its grammatically atypical use of words (such asgive way)

:the language peculiar to a people or to a district, community, or class:dialect

:thesyntactical,grammatical, or structural form peculiar to a language

:a style or form of artistic expression that is characteristic of an individual, a period or movement, or a medium or instrument

the modern jazzidiom

broadly:manner,style

a new culinaryidiom

Did you know?

The Makeup ofIdioms

If you had never heard someone say "We're on the same page," would you have understood that they weren't talking about a book? And the first time someone said he'd "ride shotgun", did you wonder where the gun was? A modern English-speaker knows thousands of idioms, and uses many every day. Idioms can be completely ordinary ("first off", "the other day", "make a point of", "What's up?") or more colorful ("asleep at the wheel", "bite the bullet", "knuckle sandwich"). A particular type of idiom, called aphrasal verb, consists of a verb followed by an adverb or preposition (or sometimes both); inmake over, make out, andmake up, for instance, notice how the meanings have nothing to do with the usual meanings ofover, out, andup.

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Synonyms

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Examples ofidiom in a Sentence

She is a populist in politics, as she repeatedly makes clear for no very clear reason. Yet theidiom of the populace is not popular with her.—

P. J. O'Rourke,New York Times Book Review,9 Oct. 2005

And the prospect of recovering a nearly lost language, theidiom and scrappy slang of the postwar period …—

Don DeLillo,New York Times Magazine,7 Sept. 1997

We need to explicate the ways in which specific themes, fears, forms of consciousness, and class relationships are embedded in the use of Africanistidiom …—

Toni Morrison,Playing in the Dark,1992

The expression “give way,” meaning “retreat,” is anidiom. rock and roll and other musicalidioms a feature of modern jazzidiom

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage.Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.Send us feedback.

There is a Frenchidiomthat says when something is so easy, it can be done with ‘les doigts dans le nez’ — the fingers in the nose.—

Liam Tharme,The Athletic, 23 Jan. 2025While often used sarcastically to mock true believers, theidiomreflects Italy’s enduring ambiguity toward Fascism, even 80 years after its fall.—

Mattia Ferraresi,airmail.news, 1 Feb. 2025Knowing the correct four-wordidiomsis a sign of education.—

Rachel Chang,Travel + Leisure, 4 Feb. 2025Glover’s score — for rock band, piano and acoustic strings — evokes popidiomswhile politely sidestepping direct quotation.—

Corinna Da Fonseca-Wollheim,New York Times, 20 Jan. 2025See All Example Sentences foridiom

Word History

Etymology

Middle French & Late Latin; Middle Frenchidiome, from Late Latinidioma individual peculiarity of language, from Greekidiōmat-, idiōma, fromidiousthai to appropriate, fromidios

First Known Use

1573, in the meaning defined atsense 2b

Time Traveler

The first known use ofidiom was in 1573

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