Meaning & use
informal vocabulary
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Meanings
noununcountable
Words and phrases used in relaxed conversation rather than in serious or official writing.
Grammar: Uncountable: say 'informal vocabulary', not 'an informal vocabulary' or 'informal vocabularies'.
Patterns
- use informal vocabulary
- informal vocabulary for something
- a piece of informal vocabulary
The teacher told us to replace informal vocabulary like 'kids' with 'children' in our essays.
Text messages are full of informal vocabulary, such as 'gonna' for 'going to'.
Learning informal vocabulary helps you understand movies and casual conversations.
nouncountable
The set of casual words that a particular group, region, or person knows and uses.
Grammar: Countable when talking about one group's set: 'the informal vocabulary of teenagers'.
Patterns
- the informal vocabulary of a group
- have a large informal vocabulary
Teenagers often have an informal vocabulary that adults do not understand.
Australian English has its own informal vocabulary, with words like 'arvo' for afternoon.
Common combinations
- informal vocabulary
- She uses a lot of informal vocabulary when she chats online.
- everyday informal vocabulary
- Everyday informal vocabulary includes greetings like 'hey' and 'what's up'.
- avoid informal vocabulary
- In academic writing, avoid informal vocabulary such as 'stuff' or 'a lot of'.
- a word of informal vocabulary
- 'Chill' is a word of informal vocabulary that means 'relax'.
Synonyms and how they differ
- colloquial language
- More formal term for the same idea; it often refers to relaxed spoken style rather than just words.
- slang
- A smaller, more extreme part of informal vocabulary; slang words are often new, local, or group-specific.
- casual speech
- Focuses on the spoken style, while 'informal vocabulary' focuses on the words themselves.
Opposites
Word family
- informal adjective
- Relaxed and not official; describes the style of the vocabulary.
- informality noun
- The quality of being relaxed and unofficial.
- vocabulary noun
- All the words known or used by a person or group.
Commonly confused: informal vocabulary or slang?
informal vocabulary vs slang
Slang is a type of informal vocabulary, but not all informal words are slang. 'Kids' is informal but not slang; 'lit' (meaning exciting) is slang.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'informal vocabulary' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Informal vocabulary' is uncountable, so it fits as a mass noun in sentence B. Sentence A treats it as a countable object you can write, and C and D use it as a verb or plural, which is wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “informal vocabulary”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.