Word Games Pro Dictionary

vernacular

noun adjective

The language of a people or a national language.

Quick reference

Word Facts

Word length
10
Starts with
V
Ends with
R
Contains
ER
Scrabble score
15
Database source
OEWN 2025 Core

How it sounds

Pronunciation

/vəˈnækjələ/ /vɚˈnækjəlɚ/

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Audio Pronunciation

Audio pronunciation is unavailable for this word.

Meaning

Definitions

noun

  1. The language of a people or a national language.

    “A vernacular of the United States is English.”

  2. Everyday speech or dialect, including colloquialisms, as opposed to standard, literary, liturgical, or scientific idiom.

    “Street vernacular can be quite different from what is heard elsewhere.”

  3. Language unique to a particular group of people; jargon, argot.

    “For those of a certain age, hiphop vernacular might just as well be a foreign language.”

  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.

    “Vatican II allowed the celebration of the mass in the vernacular.”

adjective

  1. Of or pertaining to everyday language, as opposed to standard, literary, liturgical, or scientific idiom.

  2. Belonging to the country of one's birth; one's own by birth or nature; native; indigenous.

    “a vernacular disease”

  3. Of or related to local building materials and styles; not imported.

  4. Connected to a collective memory; not imported.

In context

Example Sentences

A vernacular of the United States is English.
Street vernacular can be quite different from what is heard elsewhere.
For those of a certain age, hiphop vernacular might just as well be a foreign language.
Vatican II allowed the celebration of the mass in the vernacular.
a vernacular disease

Similar words

Synonyms

Opposite words

Antonyms

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