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Language vs Nation - What's the difference?

language | nation |

As nouns the difference between language and nation

is that language is (countable) a form of communication using words either spoken or gestured with the hands and structured with grammar, often with a writing system while nation is an historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological make-up manifested in a common culture or nation can be damnation.

As a verb language

is to communicate by language; to express in language.

As a adverb nation is

(chiefly|dialect) extremely; very.

language

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) language, from (etyl) language, from .

Noun

{{examples-right, The English Wiktionary uses the English language' to define words from all of the world's ' languages .


This person is saying "hello" in American sign language . }} (wikipedia language)
  • (lb) A body of words, and set of methods of combining them (called a grammar), understood by a community and used as a form of communication.
  • * 1867', ''Report on the Systems of Deaf-Mute Instruction pursued in Europe'', quoted in '''1983 in ''History of the College for the Deaf, 1857-1907 (ISBN 0913580856), page 240:
    • Hence the natural language' of the mute is, in schools of this class, suppressed as soon and as far as possible, and its existence as a ' language , capable of being made the reliable and precise vehicle for the widest range of thought, is ignored.
  • * {{quote-book, page=50, year=1900, author=(w)
    • , title= The History of the Caliph Vathek , passage=No language could express his rage and despair.}}
  • * 2000 , Geary Hobson, The Last of the Ofos (ISBN 0816519595), page 113:
    • Mr. Darko, generally acknowledged to be the last surviving member of the Ofo Tribe, was also the last remaining speaker of the tribe's language .
  • (lb) The ability to communicate using words.
  • (lb) The vocabulary and usage of a particular specialist field.
  • *
    • Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language , he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
  • The expression of thought (the communication of meaning) in a specified way.
  • * 2001 , Eugene C. Kennedy, ?Sara C. Charles, On Becoming a Counselor (ISBN 0824519132):
    • A tale about themselves [is] told by people with help from the universal languages of their eyes, their hands, and even their shirting feet.
  • A body of sounds, signs and signals by which animals communicate, and by which plants are sometimes also thought to communicate.
  • A computer language; a machine language.
  • * 2015 , Kent D. Lee, Foundations of Programming Languages (ISBN 3319133144), page 94:
    • In fact pointers are called references in these languages' to distinguish them from pointers in ' languages like C and C++.
  • (lb) Manner of expression.
  • * (rfdate) Cowper:
    • Their language simple, as their manners meek,
  • (lb) The particular words used in a speech or a passage of text.
  • (lb) Profanity.
  • *{{quote-book, page=500, year=1978, author=James Carroll
    • , title= Mortal Friends, isbn=0440157897 , passage="Where the hell is Horace?" ΒΆ "There he is. He's coming. You shouldn't use language ."}}
    Synonyms
    * (form of communication) tongue, speech (spoken language) * (vocabulary of a particular field) lingo (colloquial), jargon, terminology, phraseology, parlance * (computer language) computer language, programming language, machine language * (particular words used) phrasing, wording, terminology
    Derived terms
    * artificial language * auxiliary language * bad language * body language * computing language * constructed language * endangered language * extinct language * foreign language * formal language * foul language * international language * language barrier * language code * language cop * language death * language extinction * language family * language lab, language laboratory * language model * language of flowers * language planning * language police * language pollution * language processing * language school * language shift * language technology * language transfer * languaging * machine language * mathematical language * mind one's language * natural language * pattern language * programming language * private language * secular language * sign language * speak someone's language * standard language * vehicular language * vernacular language
    Related terms
    * langue * lingual * linguine * linguistics * tonguage

    Verb

  • To communicate by language; to express in language.
  • * (rfdate) Fuller:
    • Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that they have a double sense.

    See also

    * lexis, term, word * bilingual * linguistics * multilingual * trilingual

    Etymology 2

    Alteration of (m).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A languet, a flat plate in or below the flue pipe of an organ.
  • * 1896 , William Horatio Clarke, The Organist's Retrospect , page 79:
    • A flue-pipe is one in which the air passes through the throat, or flue, which is the narrow, longitudinal aperture between the lower lip and the tongue, or language'.

    Statistics

    * ----

    nation

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) ).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.
  • A sovereign state.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
    • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: 
  • (chiefly, historical) An association of students based on their birthplace or ethnicity. (jump)
  • (obsolete) A great number; a great deal.
    • a nation of herbs
    (Sterne)
    Usage notes
    * (British) Following the establishment of the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, England, Scotland and Wales are normally considered distinct nations. Application of the term nation to the United Kingdom as a whole is deprecated in most style guides, including the BBC, most newspapers and in UK Government publications. Northern Ireland, being of less clear legal status, generally remains a province.
    Synonyms
    * thede * (an association of students) student nation
    Derived terms
    * First Nations * Ford Nation * national * nationality * nation building * nation-state * student nation * United Nations
    Related terms
    * antenatal * innate * nascent * natal * native * nativity * nativism * nativization * nature * natural * naturism * naturalism * prenatal
    See also
    * country * culture * homeland * ethnicity * people * race * society * state * thede

    Etymology 2

    Probably short for (m).

    Noun

  • (rare) Damnation.

    • Adverb

  • (rare, dialectal) Extremely; very
  • * Mark Twain:
    • I'm nation sorry for you.

    References

    * "Notable and Quotable," Merriam Webster Online Newsletter (November, 2005) [http://www.word.com/unabridged/archives/2005/11/notable_and_quo_4.html] (as accessed on December 23, 2005).

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * (l), (l) 1000 English basic words ----