as in dialect
the special terms or expressions of a particular group or field
the medical patois that the hospital staffers used among themselves was incomprehensible to me
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of patois
Elliott spits her verses in patois, freeing up space on the track for the drums to get some before Cartel and M.I.A. slide through.
41.
—
Steven J. Horowitz, Vulture, 11 Apr. 2025
And so there’s West Indian patois and language and music and food.
—Vanessa Franko, Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan. 2025
There are countless examples like these, in which English scaffolding has adapted to the demands and the cultural heritage of its speakers, from Jamaican patois to Tok Pisin, of New Guinea.
—Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2024
Instead, viewers are immersed in Millie’s Kingston, with dialogue spoken almost entirely in Jamaican patois, where opportunities are limited, gang violence persists and whiteness is still put on a pedestal.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 25 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for patois
Recent Examples of Synonyms for patois
Noun
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Though the Norn language has gone, the local dialect remains distinctive, as fans of the BBC detective show Shetland will know.—
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Language classes, which previously covered only a specific dialect of Spanish, have been replaced with robust translation and interpretation services that apply to multiple languages.—
Noun
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Which means that their terminology won't disappear anytime soon.—
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This Trumpian newspeak about Germany — to use George Orwell’s term for the distorted terminology of authoritarians — reveals an indifference to (or ignorance of) history that endangers not only Europe but the United States.—
Noun
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Americans argued fiercely about whether to intervene abroad, but largely shared the same moral vocabulary.—
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Regular reading leads to positive impacts on your mental and emotional well-being, including slowing down cognitive decline, bolstering empathy and curiosity, improving your vocabulary and reducing stress.—
Noun
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Nationally, median early career wages range from $40,000 for a foreign language degree to $80,000 for a computer science degree, according to an analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.—
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Administration officials have cut that time roughly in half, partly by eliminating Spanish-language courses.—
Noun
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The speed at which Gen Alpha has been churning out new, often nonsensical, slang has been fast and furious throughout 2025.—
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What other slang does Gen Alpha use?—
Cite this Entry
“Patois.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/patois. Accessed 19 Jan. 2026.
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