Idiom
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈɪdɪəm/
Origin
From Middle French idiome, and its source, Late Latin idioma, from Ancient Greek ἰδίωμα (idioma, "a peculiarity, property, a peculiar phraseology, idiom"), from ἰδιοῦσθαι (idiousthai, "to make one's own, appropriate to oneself"), from ἴδιος (idios, "one's own, pertaining to oneself, private, personal, peculiar, separate").
Full definition of idiom
Noun
- (now rare) A manner of speaking, a way of expressing oneself.
- A language or dialect.
- Specifically, a particular variety of language; a restricted dialect used in a given historical period, context etc.
- 2010, Christopher Hitchens, "The Other L-Word", Vanity Fair, 13 Jan 2010: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.
- An artistic style (for example, in art, architecture, or music); an instance of such a style.
- An expression peculiar to or characteristic of a particular language, especially when the meaning is illogical or separate from the meanings of its component words.
- 2008, Patricia Hampl, “You’re Historyâ€, in Patricia Hampl and Elaine Tyler May (editors), Tell Me True: Memoir, History, and Writing a Life, Minnesota Historical Society, ISBN 9780873516303, page 134: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.
- (programming) A programming construct or phraseology generally held to be the most efficient, elegant or effective means to achieve a particular result or behavior.
- 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: ...
Synonyms
- (phrase) expression loosely, form of words loosely, phrase loosely