1. Means or mode of expressing thoughts; language; tongue; form of speech. This book is writ in such a dialect As may the minds of listless men affect. Bunyan. The universal dialect of the world. South.
2. The form of speech of a limited region or people, as distinguished from ether forms nearly related to it; a variety or subdivision of a language; speech characterized by local peculiarities or specific circumstances; as, the Ionic and Attic were dialects of Greece; the Yorkshire dialect; the dialect of the learned. In the midst of this Babel of dialects there suddenly appeared a standard English language. Earle. [Charles V.] could address his subjects from every quarter in their native dialect. Prescott.
Syn.
— Language; idiom; tongue; speech; phraseology. See Language, and
Idiom.
DIALECTAL
Di`a*lec"tal, a.
Defn: Relating to a dialect; dialectical; as, a dialectical variant.
DIALECTIC
Di`a*lec"tic, n.
Defn: Same as Dialectics.
Plato placed his dialectic above all sciences. Liddell & Scott.
DIALECTIC; DIALECTICAL Di`a*lec"tic, Di`a*lec"tic*al, a. Etym: [L. dialecticus, Gr. dialectique. See Dialect.]
1. Pertaining to dialectics; logical; argumental.
2. Pertaining to a dialect or to dialects. Earle.