articulate

present singular third person articulates · participle present articulating · participle past articulated · past articulated

1. transitiveTo make clear or effective.
2. ambitransitiveTo speak clearly; to enunciate.

   I wish he’d articulate his words more clearly.

3. transitiveTo explain; to put into words; to make something specific.

   I like this painting, but I can’t articulate why.

   1 more example

   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.

   2018 October 24, Jeremy Diamond, “Trump’s secret weapon: Legions of supporters spreading his message”, in CNN, archived from the original on 12 May 2019

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

   an articulated bus

5. transitiveentertainmentTo attack a note, as by tonguing, slurring, bowing, etc.

   Articulate that passage heavily.

6. intransitiveanatomyTo form a joint or connect by joints.

   The lower jaw articulates with the skull at the temporomandibular joint.

7. obsoleteTo treat or make terms.

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

   c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, act 1, scene 9, lines 75–77

comparative more articulate · superlative most articulate

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

   She’s a bright, articulate young woman.

   Synonyms: eloquent, well-spoken

3. Consisting of segments united by joints.

   jointed articulate animals

   1 more example

   The robot arm was articulate in two directions.

4. Distinctly marked off.

   an articulate period in history

5. obsoleteExpressed in articles or in separate items or particulars.

   articulate sounds

   1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “II. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC

6. obsoleteRelated 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.

   1728, James Knapton, John Knapton, Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, page 146

7. obsoleteArticulated (all senses).

   1 more example

   Theſe things indeede you haue articulate(d), Proclaim'd at Market Croſſes, read in Churches, To face the Garment of Rebellion VVith ſome fine colour, that may pleaſe the eye Of fickle Changelings, and poore Diſcontents, Which gape, and rub the Elbovv at the nevves Of hurly burly Innouation : And neuer yet did Inſurrection vvant Such vvater-colours, to impaint his cauſe : Nor moody Beggars, ſtaruing for a time Of pell-mell hauocke, and confuſion,

   c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 69, column 2

plural articulates

1. biologyAn 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.

   1977, Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History)