lingua
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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At some point, we reached a moment in our culture where being funny became the kind of lingua franca.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
This entails programs to promote standard Chinese as the national lingua franca, instill pride in Chinese cultural heritage and exert stronger central control over regions with large ethnic-minority populations such as Tibet and Xinjiang.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
His Russian has improved in prison, where it is a lingua franca among the inmates.
From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026
Somalia is to introduce Swahili, the lingua franca of East Africa, to its national curriculum, the president has announced.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2025
Few spoke English, and the lingua franca was an amalgam of many tongues known as Fanagalo.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Reminded that technically the war was over for Russia, Kisselev confessed a "lapsus linguae."
From Time Magazine Archive
"A lapsus linguae?" one guest cries, "A pun!" another straight replies.
From The Canadian Elocutionist by Anna Kelsey Howard
Miss Sallianna wound up by saying, that it would be an affair of rare and opprobrious interest; and, as a comedy, would be positively deleterious, which was probably a lapsus linguae for "delicious."
From The Last of the Foresters Or, Humors on the Border; A story of the Old Virginia Frontier by John Esten Cooke
Afterward Mr. Colfax, who was a noted speaker, told me that whenever he made a lapsus linguae, if it amused the audience he never attempted to correct it.
From Memories of a Musical Life by William Mason
"The devil they do, ma'am!" bolted out Richard, gruffly; and then, ashamed of his lapsus linguae, screwed up his lips firmly, and glared on the company with an eye of indignant fire.
From My Novel — Complete by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton
