articulate

verb
/ɑː(ɹ)ˈtɪk.jʊ.leɪt/UK/ɑːɹˈtɪk.jə.leɪt/US/ɑː(ɹ)ˈtɪk.jʊ.lət/UK/ɑːɹˈtɪk.jə.lət/US

Etymology

The adjective is first attested in 1531, the verb in 1551; borrowed from Latin articulātus (“distinct, articulated, jointed”), perfect passive participle of articulō, see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3). Regular participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

  1. borrowed from articulātus

Definitions

  1. To make clear or effective.

  2. To speak clearly

    To speak clearly; to enunciate.

    • I wish he’d articulate his words more clearly.
  3. To explain

    To explain; to put into words; to make something specific.

    • I like this painting, but I can’t articulate why.
    • It’s not just that Trump’s voters are articulating the same ideas. They’re framing issues in the same way, pointing to the same boogeymen and even using the same words.
  4. + 12 more definitions
    1. To bend or hinge something at intervals, or to allow or build something so that it can…

      To bend or hinge something at intervals, or to allow or build something so that it can bend.

      • an articulated bus
    2. To attack a note, as by tonguing, slurring, bowing, etc.

      • Articulate that passage heavily.
    3. To form a joint or connect by joints.

      • The lower jaw articulates with the skull at the temporomandibular joint.
    4. To treat or make terms.

      • Send us to Rome / The best, with whom we may articulate / For their own good and ours.
    5. Clear

      Clear; effective.

    6. Speaking in a clear and effective manner

      Speaking in a clear and effective manner; having both good articulation and good elocution.

      • She’s a bright, articulate young woman.
    7. Consisting of segments united by joints.

      • jointed articulate animals
      • The robot arm was articulate in two directions.
    8. Distinctly marked off.

      • an articulate period in history
    9. Expressed in articles or in separate items or particulars.

      • articulate sounds
    10. Related to human speech, as distinct from the vocalisation of animals.

      • Brutes cannot form articulate Sounds, cannot articulate the Sounds of the Voice, excepting some few Birds, as the Parrot, Pye, &c.
    11. Articulated (all senses).

    12. An animal of the subkingdom Articulata.

      • They considered articulates to be pre-adapted for an eleutherozoic existence because they possess muscular arms which are potentially of value in crawling and swimming, as in comatulids.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at articulate. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01articulate02effective03operative04force05push06continually07continuous08articulated

A definitional loop anchored at articulate. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at articulate

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA