characteristic of informal spoken language or conversation; " wrote her letters in a colloquial style"; " the broken syntax and casual enunciation of conversational English"

Pertaining to, or used in, conversation, esp. common and familiar conversation; conversational; hence, unstudied; informal; as, colloquial intercourse; colloquial phrases; a colloquial style.

Used in ordinary conversation; belonging to everyday speech; informal.

Colloquially.

Pertaining to or used in common conversation.

Pertaining to ordinary conversation.

Pertaining to conversation; used in conversation, but not in literary or oratorical style.

Relating to or used in common conversation.

Pert. to ordinary conversation.

Every word he uttered might have been heard in the remotest quarters of the room, yet he scarcely lifted his voice above a colloquial tone. – Stories of Authors, British and American by Edwin Watts Chubb

What everybody, however, may not know is that in the southern section of the same, " tiger" is the colloquial word used to designate leopard, and that invariably; hence, of course, the trapped beast in this case represented not " Stripes" but " Spots." – Harley Greenoak's Charge by Bertram Mitford

Aptness in use of their colloquial speech gave her special facility for gathering the stories with exactness, as they fell from the lips of the narrators in her hearing; and for the delicate additional task of translating them into English. – Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India by Katherine Neville Fleeson

Mr. Freeman was colloquial, if anything. – Corporal Cameron by Ralph Connor

As long as a secretary or a huissier was in the room, they spoke to each other most correctly in French; as soon as they were alone, relapsed into easy and colloquial English. – My First Years As A Frenchwoman, 1876-1879 by Mary King Waddington

Our cattle are always gentle, but some of them are, to use a colloquial word that seems to me richly descriptive, so " nose- y." – The Jonathan Papers by Elisabeth Woodbridge Morris

There you are; the story of the priest of Cucugnan, as I was told by the great colloquial writer Roumanille, who had it himself from some other good fellow. – Letters from my Windmill by Alphonse Daudet

The " Leaves from a South African Journal," which close the third volume of Short Studies, describe his journey in his most agreeably colloquial style. – The Life of Froude by Herbert Paul

The location was not desirable, and it was decided to " fleck" the house, as is the colloquial term on the Cape for preparing a building to be moved. – Remodeled Farmhouses by Mary H. Northend

Now, my good mother thought badly of my French accent; and when I told her I meant to spend a summer month or two in western Switzerland, she said to me, " I do hope, Charlie dear, you will miss no opportunity of conversing with the people, and improving yourself in colloquial French a little." – The Beckoning Hand and Other Stories The Beckoning Hand--Lucretia--The Third Time--The Gold Wulfric--My Uncle's Will--The Two Carnegies--Olga Davidoff's Husband--John Cann's Treasure--Isaline and I--Professor Milliter's Dilemma--In Strict Confidence--The by Grant Allen

The pedantry of one class and the colloquial vulgarity of another had their day; the faults of each were strongly contrasted, and better writers kept the mean between them. – Colloquies on Society by Robert Southey

The first part commences with an apology for his colloquial style; he is, as he has always been, the enemy of rhetoric, and knows of no rhetoric but truth; he will not falsify his character by making a speech. – Apology Also known as "The Death of Socrates" by Plato

The style is colloquial and pleasant, and therefore well suited to those for whose perusal it is intended." – Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals by R. Lee

Up to the present time Mr. Stephens had not communicated with a single police official able to speak colloquial English; it was that fact which had made him find Gerald Burton so invaluable an auxiliary. – The End of Her Honeymoon by Marie Belloc Lowndes

The verse is meant to be colloquial- G. R. Sims at best- and when one is going for a coarse effect, one had better be coarse. – Oscar Wilde A Critical Study by Arthur Ransome

Compare with them the colloquial use of our terribly overworked word " clever." – Studies in Literature by John Morley