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colloquialism
(redirected from Colloquial term)

   Also found in: Medical, Legal, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
col·lo·qui·al·ism  (k-lkw--lzm)
n.
1. Colloquial style or quality.
2. A colloquial expression.

colloquialism [kəˈləʊkwɪəˌlɪzəm]
n
1. (Linguistics) a word or phrase appropriate to conversation and other informal situations
2. (Linguistics) the use of colloquial words and phrases

colloquialism
a word, phrase, or expression characteristic of ordinary or familiar conversation rather than formal speech or writing, as “She’s out” for “She is not at home.” — colloquial, adj.
See also: Language
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech
firewall - (colloquial) the application of maximum thrust; "he moved the throttle to the firewall"
fix - something craved, especially an intravenous injection of a narcotic drug; "she needed a fix of chocolate"
heavy lifting - difficult work; "the boss hoped the plan would succeed but he wasn't willing to do the heavy lifting"
biz, game - your occupation or line of work; "he's in the plumbing game"; "she's in show biz"
no-brainer - anything that requires little thought
crapshoot - a risky and uncertain venture; "getting admitted to the college of your choice has become a crapshoot"
snogging - (British informal) cuddle and kiss
wash - any enterprise in which losses and gains cancel out; "at the end of the year the accounting department showed that it was a wash"
aggro - (informal British usage) aggravation or aggression; "I skipped it because it was too much aggro"
fun - violent and excited activity; "she asked for money and then the fun began"; "they began to fight like fun"
hell, sin - violent and excited activity; "they began to fight like sin"
dickey-bird, dickeybird, dicky-bird, dickybird - small bird; adults talking to children sometimes use these words to refer to small birds
bunny rabbit, bunny - (usually informal) especially a young rabbit
bib-and-tucker - an attractive outfit; "she wore her best bib-and-tucker"
delf - an excavation; usually a quarry or mine
funny wagon - an ambulance used to transport patients to a mental hospital
boom box, ghetto blaster - a portable stereo
stinker, lemon - an artifact (especially an automobile) that is defective or unsatisfactory
long johns - warm underwear with long legs
main drag - the main street of a town or city
put-put - a small gasoline engine (as on motor boat)
rathole - a small dirty uncomfortable room
rattrap - filthy run-down dilapidated housing
redbrick university - (British informal) a provincial British university of relatively recent founding; distinguished from Oxford University and Cambridge University
Ritz - an ostentatiously elegant hotel
security blanket - anything that an adult person uses to reduce anxiety
shooting gallery - a building (usually abandoned) where drug addicts buy and use heroin
Sunday best, Sunday clothes - the best attire you have which is worn to church on Sunday
war paint - full ceremonial regalia
smoke - something with no concrete substance; "his dreams all turned to smoke"; "it was just smoke and mirrors"
class - elegance in dress or behavior; "she has a lot of class"
setup - the way something is organized or arranged; "it takes time to learn the setup around here"
guts, moxie, backbone, grit, gumption, sand - fortitude and determination; "he didn't have the guts to try it"
way - the property of distance in general; "it's a long way to Moscow"; "he went a long ways"
number - a clothing measurement; "a number 13 shoe"
enormity - vastness of size or extent; "in careful usage the noun enormity is not used to express the idea of great size"; "universities recognized the enormity of their task"
drag - something tedious and boring; "peeling potatoes is a drag"
hot stuff, voluptuousness - the quality of being attractive and exciting (especially sexually exciting); "he thought she was really hot stuff"
eye, oculus, optic - the organ of sight
peeper - an informal term referring to the eye
proboscis - the human nose (especially when it is large)
physiognomy, visage, smiler, kisser, phiz, countenance, mug - the human face (`kisser' and `smiler' and `mug' are informal terms for `face' and `phiz' is British)
can of worms - a source of unpredictable trouble and complexity
hang-up - an emotional preoccupation
think - an instance of deliberate thinking; "I need to give it a good think"
Translations
colloquialism [kəˈləʊkwɪəlɪzəm] N (= word) → palabra f familiar; (= expression) → expresión f familiar; (= style) → estilo m familiar
colloquialism [kəˈləʊkwiəlɪzəm] n
(= word) → mot m familier (= phrase) → expression f familière
(= colloquial language) → langue f familière
colloquialism
colloquialism [kəˈləʊkwɪəlɪzm] ncolloquialismo


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Dickson has written more than 50 books on American history and culture, and he employs a conversational tone to decipher technical terms, acronyms and colloquial terms.
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