colloquial
Syllables: col·lo·qui·alUK/kəˈləʊ.kwɪəl/US/kəˈloʊ.kwi.əl/
colloquial adjective: characteristic of familiar conversation, of common parlance; informal.
Adjective
colloquial (comparative more colloquial, superlative most colloquial)
- Characteristic of familiar conversation, of common parlance; informal.
- You're using too many colloquial words in this cover letter: I suggest changing "I picked up loads of cool skills" to "I acquired many positive abilities"
- The colloquial, and at times sarcastic, tone of her books makes her popular with teenagers.
- Of or pertaining to a conversation; conversational or chatty.
Noun
colloquial (plural colloquials)
- A colloquial word or phrase, colloquialism.
colloquial meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
colloquial in Hindi
- colloquial, in everyday use
- व्यावहारिक vyāvhārik
colloquial in Tamil
- பேச்சு வழக்கு
colloquial in Urdu
- روزمرہ
colloquial in Bengali
- colloquial
- চলিত colito
- colloquial, oral
- কথ্য kottho
More languagesFewer languages
- colloquial in Telugu
- వ్యావహారికమైన vyāvahārikamaina
- colloquial in Malayalam
- വാമൊഴി സംബന്ധിച്ച, അനൗപചാരികമായ, സാധാരണ സംഭാഷണരീതിയിലുള്ള, സംഭാഷണയുക്തമായ
- colloquial in Kannada
- ಆಡುನುಡಿ, ಆಡುಮಾತು
- colloquial in Tagalog
- kolokyal
- colloquial in Arabic
- عَامِّيّ ʕāmmiyy, دَارِج dārij
- colloquial in Persian
- عامیانه 'âmmiyâne
- colloquial in Thai
- ภาษาปาก paa-sǎa-bpàak, ซึ่งปาก
- colloquial in Vietnamese
- thông tục, bình dân
Examples of colloquial in a sentence
- This normative expectation is perhaps best captured in the popular colloquial phrase: “Pics or it didn't happen.”
- Here we categorize Blackfoot variations in three types: regional, generational and colloquial.
- Sugarbag is a widely used colloquial Aboriginal-English name for the honey from native bees.
Synonyms of colloquial
Antonyms
Forms of colloquial
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| superlative | most colloquial |
| Noun | |
| plural | colloquials |
Origin of colloquial
1751, from earlier term colloquy (“a conversation”), from Latin colloquium (“conference, conversation”), from con- (“together”) + loquor (“to speak”), + -al.
Words formed from colloquial
Questions about colloquial
- What does colloquial mean?
- Colloquial means characteristic of familiar conversation, of common parlance; informal.
- What is colloquial in Hindi?
- Colloquial in Hindi is व्यावहारिक (vyāvhārik). See Colloquial meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is colloquial?
- Colloquial can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce colloquial?
- Colloquial is pronounced /kəˈləʊ.kwɪəl/ (UK).
Words near colloquial in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: colloquial (page history and authors); व्यावहारिक (Hindi) (page history and authors); colloquial (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); colloquial (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); কথ্য (Bengali) (page history and authors); వ్యావహారికమైన (Telugu) (page history and authors); colloquial (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); colloquial (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-ca-colloquial.oga.
Cite this entry: “colloquial.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/colloquial. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.