black top
black top noun: a middle-market tabloid; a tabloid newspaper aimed at the middle class, perceived as having intermediate journalistic standards between a broadsheet and a red top. Also the alternative form of blacktop.
Noun
black top (plural black tops)
- A middle-market tabloid; a tabloid newspaper aimed at the middle class, perceived as having intermediate journalistic standards between a broadsheet and a red top.
- Tabloid-style journalism exists in many societies, but the various elements that co-exist in a red-top or black-top are found on separate platforms in other countries.2020 June 9, Steve Buckledee, Tabloiding the Truth: It's the Pun Wot Won It, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 2
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see black, top.
Also used as
black top is also the alternative form of blacktop.
Forms of black top
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | black tops |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | black tops |
| present participle | black topping |
| past participle | black topped |
| past | black topped |
Origin of black top
British middle-market newspapers, such as the Daily Mail and Daily Express, typically present their titles in bold black letters.
Questions about black top
- What does black top mean?
- Black top means a middle-market tabloid; a tabloid newspaper aimed at the middle class, perceived as having intermediate journalistic standards between a broadsheet and a red top.
- What part of speech is black top?
- Black top is a noun.
- What is the plural of black top?
- The plural of black top is black tops.
Words near black top in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: black top (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “black top.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/black_top. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.