Library / English Dictionary

ARTICULATE

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Expressing yourself easily or characterized by clear expressive language

Example:

articulate beings

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

eloquent; facile; fluent; silver; silver-tongued; smooth-spoken (expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively)

speech-endowed (capable of speech)

well-spoken (speaking or spoken fittingly or pleasingly)

Also:

communicative; communicatory (able or tending to communicate)

spoken (uttered through the medium of speech or characterized by speech; sometimes used in combination)

Antonym:

inarticulate (without or deprived of the use of speech or words)

Derivation:

articulateness (the quality of being facile in speech and writing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Consisting of segments held together by joints

Synonyms:

articulate; articulated

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

jointed (having joints or jointed segments)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Express or state clearly

Synonyms:

articulate; enunciate; vocalise; vocalize

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "articulate" is one way to...):

say; state; tell (express in words)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

articulation (expressing in coherent verbal form)

articulative (of or relating to articulation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way

Example:

Can the child sound out this complicated word?

Synonyms:

articulate; enounce; enunciate; pronounce; say; sound out

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

"Articulate" entails doing...:

mouth; speak; talk; utter; verbalise; verbalize (express in speech)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "articulate"):

roll (pronounce with a roll, of the phoneme /r/)

explode (cause to burst as a result of air pressure; of stop consonants like /p/, /t/, and /k/)

flap (pronounce with a flap, of alveolar sounds)

sibilate (pronounce with an initial sibilant)

trill (pronounce with a trill, of the phoneme 'r')

click (produce a click)

vocalise; vocalize; vowelise; vowelize (pronounce as a vowel)

accent; accentuate; stress (put stress on; utter with an accent)

lisp (speak with a lisp)

labialise; labialize; round (pronounce with rounded lips)

drawl (lengthen and slow down or draw out)

syllabise; syllabize (utter with distinct articulation of each syllable)

twang (pronounce with a nasal twang)

devoice (utter with tense vocal chords)

raise (pronounce (vowels) by bringing the tongue closer to the roof of the mouth)

lilt (articulate in a very careful and rhythmic way)

palatalise; palatalize (pronounce a consonant with the tongue against the palate)

nasalise; nasalize (pronounce with a lowered velum)

nasalise; nasalize (speak nasally or through the nose)

mispronounce; misspeak (pronounce a word incorrectly)

aspirate (pronounce with aspiration; of stop sounds)

sound; vocalise; vocalize; voice (utter with vibrating vocal chords)

retroflex (articulate (a consonant) with the tongue curled back against the palate)

subvocalise; subvocalize (articulate without making audible sounds)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

articulation (expressing in coherent verbal form)

articulation (the aspect of pronunciation that involves bringing articulatory organs together so as to shape the sounds of speech)

articulative (of or relating to articulation)

articulator (someone who pronounces words)

articulatory (of or relating to articulation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Put into words or an expression

Example:

He formulated his concerns to the board of trustees

Synonyms:

articulate; formulate; give voice; phrase; word

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "articulate" is one way to...):

evince; express; show (give expression to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "articulate"):

ask (direct or put; seek an answer to)

lexicalise; lexicalize (make or coin into a word or accept a new word into the lexicon of a language)

dogmatise; dogmatize (state as a dogma)

formularise; formularize (express as a formula)

cast; couch; frame; put; redact (formulate in a particular style or language)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

articulation (expressing in coherent verbal form)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Provide with a joint

Example:

the carpenter jointed two pieces of wood

Synonyms:

articulate; joint

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "articulate" is one way to...):

furnish; provide; render; supply (give something useful or necessary to)

Domain category:

carpentry; woodwork; woodworking (the craft of a carpenter: making things out of wood)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

articulation (the act of joining things in such a way that motion is possible)

articulation ((anatomy) the point of connection between two bones or elements of a skeleton (especially if it allows motion))

articulation (the shape or manner in which things come together and a connection is made)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Unite by forming a joint or joints

Example:

the ankle bone articulates with the leg bones to form the ankle bones

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "articulate" is one way to...):

connect; join; link; link up; unite (be or become joined or united or linked)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

"She is now living at Thornfield Hall," said Mason, in more articulate tones: "I saw her there last April. I am her brother."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He was alone, and met her instantly; and she found herself pressed to his heart with only these words, just articulate, “My Fanny, my only sister; my only comfort now!”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Our visitor was so excited that he could hardly articulate, but at last in gasps and bursts his tragic story came out of him.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I soon perceived that although the stranger uttered articulate sounds and appeared to have a language of her own, she was neither understood by nor herself understood the cottagers.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“Your arguments are too—er—forcible,” I managed to articulate, at cost of great pain to my aching throat.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The highest portion of the fibula that articulates with the patella.

(Head of the Fibula, NCI Thesaurus)

The Castle of Dracula now stood out against the red sky, and every stone of its broken battlements was articulated against the light of the setting sun.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The highest portion of the femoral bone that articulates with the acetabulum.

(Head of the Femur, NCI Thesaurus)

With the aurora borealis flaming coldly overhead, or the stars leaping in the frost dance, and the land numb and frozen under its pall of snow, this song of the huskies might have been the defiance of life, only it was pitched in minor key, with long-drawn wailings and half-sobs, and was more the pleading of life, the articulate travail of existence.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Dear Miss Woodhouse!—and Dear Miss Woodhouse, was all that Harriet, with many tender embraces could articulate at first; but when they did arrive at something more like conversation, it was sufficiently clear to her friend that she saw, felt, anticipated, and remembered just as she ought.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)