Ambilingual
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A person who is ambilingual.
"Although he comes very near to being an ambilingual in that he can read, write, understand and speak equally well in French and English, his attempts to translate one of his own books led to failure."
- 1 Speaking two or more languages with complete fluency and such that there is no subject or domain of communication in which one language is preferred over others. not-comparable
"The ambilingual poet (as I regard myself) dealing in the transcription of his or her own poetry, though one would assume able to take more liberties, ends up having more trouble in fashioning equivalents."
- 2 Having two languages that are used for any and all communications, where neither language is dominant. not-comparable
"When two languages in a territory function for the same people and both can be used officially and at the dialect level we have what is called an ambilingual situation."
Example
More examples"The ambilingual poet (as I regard myself) dealing in the transcription of his or her own poetry, though one would assume able to take more liberties, ends up having more trouble in fashioning equivalents."
Etymology
From ambi- + lingual.
More for "ambilingual"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.