fluent
Americanadjective
adjective
-
able to speak or write a specified foreign language with facility
-
spoken or written with facility
his French is fluent
-
easy and graceful in motion or shape
-
flowing or able to flow freely
Related Words
Fluent, glib, voluble may refer to a flow of words. Fluent suggests the easy and ready flow of an accomplished speaker and is usually a term of commendation: a fluent and interesting speech. Glib implies an excessive fluency divorced from sincerity or profundity; it often suggests talking smoothly and hurriedly to cover up or deceive, not giving the hearer a chance to stop and think; it may also imply a plausible, prepared, and well-rehearsed lie: He had a glib answer for everything. Voluble implies the overcopious and often rapid flow of words characteristic of a person who loves to talk: She overwhelmed him with her voluble answer. See also eloquent.
Other Word Forms
- fluency noun
- fluently adverb
- fluentness noun
- nonfluency noun
- nonfluent adjective
- nonfluentness noun
- overfluency noun
- overfluent adjective
- overfluentness noun
- transfluent adjective
- unfluent adjective
Etymology
Origin of fluent
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin fluent- (stem of fluēns ) “flowing,” present participle of fluere; -ent
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The biography says he is a fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker, and studied in Taiwan and China in the 1990s.
From BBC
The issue becomes more urgent as the language of chatbots becomes more sophisticated and fluent, inspiring unwarranted confidence in their conclusions, the researchers cautioned.
From Los Angeles Times
The firms that treat prompting AI as something to become fluent in — not a gimmick or tertiary function — will win.
From MarketWatch
Newson is more fluent in the ecosphere of social media, podcasts and the like.
From Los Angeles Times
With her increasingly fluent English and photography skills, Mrie finally seeks refuge in the United States — and addresses the behavioral fallout of her harrowing history.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
