common speech
Ordinary spoken words
Common speech is ordinary, everyday language as spoken by regular people—distinct from formal, literary, or technical registers.
The phrase often appears in discussions of word usage: The term has fallen out of common speech.
It may carry slight condescension when contrasted with educated or refined expression.
- conversationalRelating to informal dialogue
- demoticOf common folk
- everydayOccurring each day
- plain EnglishUnadorned, accessible wording
- casualRelaxed and informal
plainspoken · street talk · man on the street · informal · argot · localism · vernacular · patois · colloquial · provincialism · turn of phrase · regionalism · working class · unpretentious · down to earth · accent · lingo · plain language
- plain languageplain language, plain English, plain text, plain talk, simple English
- Romantic PoetryWordsworth, Keats, William Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge
- speech stylescolloquial, vernacular, high style, street talk, baby talk
- dialectsregional dialect, local dialect, patois, vernaculars, vernacular
- Constructed Languagesconlang, Esperanto, artificial language, auxiliary language, language creation
- slangslang, jargon, lingo, argot, cant
common speechformal address
Respectful way of speaking
elevated language · courtly speech · high style · declamation · oration
common speechKing's English
Formal British standard dialect
Queen's English · standard language · proper English · posh accent
common speechtechnical jargon
Specialized professional terminology
legal language · legalese · scientific language · academic discourse · medical terminology
common, speech, speechless, communicate, communication, commonly, uncommon, commons, communications