Dialect Definition

dīə-lĕkt

dialects

noun

dialects

The sum total of local characteristics of speech.

Webster's New World

A variety of language that with other varieties constitutes a single language of which no single variety is standard.

The dialects of Ancient Greek.

American Heritage

The sum total of an individual's characteristics of speech; idiolect.

Webster's New World

A form or variety of a spoken language, including the standard form, peculiar to a region, community, social group, occupational group, etc.: in this sense, dialects are regarded as being, to some degree, mutually intelligible while languages are not mutually intelligible.

Webster's New World

Any form of speech considered as deviating from a real or imaginary standard speech.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

adjective

Of or in a dialect.

Dialect ballads.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Dialect

Noun

Singular:

dialect

Plural:

dialects

Origin of Dialect

From Middle French dialecte, from Latin dialectos, dialectus, from Ancient Greek διάλεκτος (dialektos, “conversation, the language of a country or a place or a nation, the local idiom which derives from a dominant language”), from διαλέγομαι (dialegomai, “I participate in a dialogue”), from διά (dia, “inter, through”) + λέγω (legō, “I speak”).

From Wiktionary
French dialecte from Old French from Latin dialectus form of speech from Greek dialektos speech from dialegesthai to discourse, use a dialect dia- between, over dia– legesthai middle voice of legein to speak leg- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition