tongue

noun
UK: /tʌŋ/
US: /tʌŋ/

  1. The fleshy, movable part inside your mouth used for tasting, speaking, and swallowing.

    1. I bit my tongue by accident eating dinner. [ ] [ ]
    2. The doctor asked him to stick out his tongue during the examination. [ ] [ ]

  2. A language.

    1. She speaks her native tongue fluently. [ ] [ ]
    2. The interpreter translated from French into his mother tongue. [ ] [ ]

  3. The strip of material under the laces of a shoe.

    1. The tongue of my shoe keeps slipping to the side. [ ] [ ]
    2. He adjusted the tongue on his sneaker for a more comfortable fit. [ ] [ ]

Synonyms

language speech dialect vernacular
tongue verb

  1. To lick or touch with the tongue.

    1. The cat began to tongue its fur. [ ] [ ]
    2. He nervously tongued his dry lips before speaking to the crowd. [ ] [ ]

  2. To articulate a note on a wind instrument using the tongue.

    1. She practices how to tongue each note clearly. [ ] [ ]
    2. The trumpet player must tongue precisely for a staccato effect. [ ] [ ]
tongue transitive-verb

  1. To express something.

    1. I cannot tongue my grief. [ ] [ ]
    2. The artist was unable to tongue their feelings through their work. [ ] [ ]
tongue intransitive-verb

  1. To talk or babble

    1. She just tongue and tongue about anything. [ ] [ ]
    2. After several drinks, he begin to tongue so long that other people are not happy [ ] [ ]
tongue idiom

  1. Hold one's tongue means to stay silent

    1. I should hold my tongue. [ ] [ ]
    2. Maybe it is better for me to hold my tongue at this moment. [ ] [ ]

Frequently Asked Questions

The word "tongue" in English means: The fleshy, movable part inside your mouth used for tasting, speaking, and swallowing., A language., The strip of material under the laces of a shoe..

The phonetic transcription of "tongue" is /tʌŋ/ in British English and /tʌŋ/ in American English. Click the 🔊 button to hear both pronunciations.

Synonyms for "tongue": language, speech, dialect, vernacular.

Example usage of "tongue": "I bit my tongue by accident eating dinner.". More examples on the page.