Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - language

~ n 1 »ENGLISH/FRENCH/ARABIC ETC« a system of communication by written or spoken words, which is used by the people of a particular country or area  (the Japanese language | How many languages do you speak? | native language (=the first language you learned))  (Andrea's native language is German. | modern language (=a language that is still spoken today) | dead language (=a language that is no longer spoken) | the language barrier (=the difficulty of communicating with people who speak a different language)) 2 »COMMUNICATION« the ability to use words to communicate  (the origins of language) 3 »COMPUTERS« technical a system of instructions and commands for operating a computer  (a programming language such as BASIC or Pascal) 4 »STYLE/TYPE OF WORDS« the kind of words and style used in one kind of writing or by people in a particular job or activity  (medical language | poetic language) 5 »SOUNDS/SIGNS/ACTIONS« a way of expressing meaning or giving information through sounds, signs, movements etc  (the language of music) 6 »SWEARING« informal words that most people think are offensive  (You never heard such language! It was disgusting. | mind/watch your language (=stop swearing)) 7 strong language a) angry words used to tell people exactly what you mean b) words that most people think are offensive; swearing 8 speak the same language if two people speak the same language, they have similar attitudes and opinions  (- see also body language, sign language)