vernacular
6
6.5
- adjective
- /vərˈnækjələr/
- Formal
:
vernáculo
- Students may find more success if they use vernacular speech to record chanting, singing, or whistling during the composing process.
- vernacular language
- vernacular speech
- vernacular poetry
Examples
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In many regions, the vernacular reflects the unique culture and traditions of the local people.
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Like Frost, Hughes wanted to get vernacular speech into poetry.
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The field offices supply materials in English and vernacular languages.
Academic text (2015) -
Publishers shifted their activities toward vernacular books which would target a larger reading public.
Academic text (1998) -
Also, the islands' unique sights and vernacular architecture offer a host of photographic opportunities.
Academic text (1999) -
First, a popular or vernacular mental map of national subdivisions is often widely shared.
Academic text (1996) -
Ten or so years ago, I took your undergraduate course about the American vernacular landscape back at Penn State.
Academic text (1998) -
We utilize borrowed languages and technologies but retain vernacular grammar and syntax.
Academic text (2015) -
It's that vernacular dance that was homegrown that comes right out of the streets and it's infectious, it's joyful, and it relates and connects to what's happening socially, politically, culturally, at any given time period.
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The author used vernacular language to make the story more relatable to everyday readers.
Synonyms
149
1.0
Used in everyday speech rather than in formal writing
7
6.5
Language people use in everyday speech rather than in formal writing
2
5.3
Used by ordinary people rather than in formal or technical language
Antonyms
Compounds
- Specialized
A way of speaking English with its own grammar, sounds, and words used by many African Americans
- Specialized
A way of speaking English used by many Black people in the United States with its own sounds and grammar
- Specialized
A variety of American English many Black people speak, with different pronunciation, grammar, and words
- Specialized
A way of speaking English used by many African Americans with its own grammar, words, and sounds
- Specialized
Art made by people without formal training that shows local traditions and everyday life
How Informal
Surface Forms
Etymology
Vernacular comes from an old Latin word vernaculus meaning 'native' or 'of the home'. Think 'home language' — a vernacular style is the everyday, ordinary way people speak rather than formal writing, so the word now means 'not formal'.