colloquialism (redirected from Colloquialisms)

col·lo·qui·al·ism  (k-lkw--lzm)

n.

1. Colloquial style or quality.

2. A colloquial expression.

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colloquialism

Noun

1. a colloquial word or phrase

2. the use of colloquial words and phrases

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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

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

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"