articulate
English
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Latin articulātus (“distinct, articulated, jointed”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
articulate (comparative more articulate, superlative most articulate)
- Clear; effective.
- Speaking in a clear and effective manner.
- She’s a bright, articulate young woman.
- Consisting of segments united by joints.
- The robot arm was articulate in two directions.
- jointed articulate animals
- Distinctly marked off.
- an articulate period in history
- (obsolete) Expressed in articles or in separate items or particulars.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)
- (obsolete, of sound) Related to human speech, as distinct from the vocalisation of animals.
- 1728, James Knapton and John Knapton, Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, page 146:
- Brutes cannot form articulate Sounds, cannot articulate the Sounds of the Voice, excepting some few Birds, as the Parrot, Pye, &c.
- 1728, James Knapton and John Knapton, Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, page 146:
Synonyms
- (good at speaking): eloquent, well-spoken
Translations
clear, effective
speaking in a clear or effective manner
|
|
able to bend or hinge at certain points or intervals
|
Etymology 2
From the adjective.
Pronunciation
Verb
articulate (third-person singular simple present articulates, present participle articulating, simple past and past participle articulated)
- To make clear or effective.
- To speak clearly; to enunciate.
- I wish he’d articulate his words more clearly.
- To explain; to put into words; to make something specific.
- I like this painting, but I can’t articulate why.
- To bend or hinge something at intervals, or to allow or build something so that it can bend.
- an articulated bus
- (music) to attack a note, as by tonguing, slurring, bowing, etc.
- Articulate that passage heavily.
- (anatomy) to form a joint or connect by joints
- The lower jaw articulates with the skull at the temporomandibular joint.
- (obsolete) To treat or make terms.
- c. 1605–1608, Shakespeare, William, Coriolanus, act 1, scene 9, lines 75–77:
- Send us to Rome / The best, with whom we may articulate / For their own good and ours.
-
Derived terms
Related terms
- articulation
- pseudoarticulated
- pseudoarticulation
Translations
to clarify
to speak clearly
|
to explain
|
music: to attack a note
|
Further reading
- articulate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- articulate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Latin
References
- articulate in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- articulate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.