tabloid
Syllables: tabl·oid/ˈtæblɔɪd//ˈtæbˌlɔɪd/
tabloid noun: a small, compressed portion of a chemical, drug, food substance, etc.; a pill, a tablet.
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Noun
tabloid (plural tabloids)
- A small, compressed portion of a chemical, drug, food substance, etc.; a pill, a tablet.
- One of the compartments was found to contain some forty compressed tabloids, which on analysis proved to be potassium bromide.1890 November 15, “Medicines Supplied to the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition”, in Thomas H. Wakley, Thomas Wakley, Jun., editors, The Lancet, volume II, number 3507, London: [Thomas H. Wakley and Thomas...
- A large number of tabloids are contained in a very small bottle, and only require crushing and dissolving in the stated quantity of water to produce a large volume of solution.1908 October 17, “Our Note Book. Photographic Tabloids.”, in The Boy's Own Paper, volume XXXI, number 3, London: “Boy’s Own Paper” Office […], →OCLC, page 64, column 3
- In full tabloid cruiser: a small yacht used for cruising.
- This boat Mayfay has been admirable as a tabloid cruiser and while Sure Mike is about her same size, Sure Mike is far more nicely modeled; she will not have Mayfay's 17-mile-an-hour homespun plainness.1930 September, E. Weston Farmer, “Sure Mike—a New Idea in Cruisers: The Design and Specifications for a Rough Water Hydroplane for Big Outboards which Carries a Shelter Cabin and which can Cruise in...
- A newspaper having pages half the dimensions of a broadsheet, especially characterized as favouring stories of a popular or sensational nature over serious news.
- […] Lyle Stuart, […] is known—notorious would be the proper word—for his publishing and writing in the fields of obscenity and extreme leftism: he puts out a sort of tabloid called "The Independent".1967 May 17, Edward Hunter, “Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 [Exhibit 2: Anatomy of a Film Analysis of ‘Three Faces of Cuba’]”, in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 90th Congress...
- A public school in Moperville, where the local newspaper is sold in neighboring towns with all the regard of a tabloid. / We've got a reputation to protect! We can only report on confirmed monsters, like mega hogs, or Bigfoot!2009 January 20, Dan Shive, “Sister 2: Part 5: Moperville News”, in El Goonish Shive (webcomic), archived from the original on 05 Nov 2024
- Synonyms:
- rag, red top, scandal sheet, tab
- A paper size 11 × 17 inches (279 × 432 millimetres) in dimensions.
Adjective
tabloid (not comparable)
- In the form of a tabloid (noun senses 2 and 2.2): compressed or compact in size.
- Travellers, explorers and missionaries are enabled to carry the most effective medicines in the smallest possible space by using ‘Tabloid’ Medicine cases as supplied to [Henry Morton] Stanley and to all leading expeditions. ‘Tabloid’ medicines contain absolutely accurate doses of the purest drugs...[1898 January, Burroughs, Wellcome & Co., “‘Tabloid’ Medicine Cases and Chests [advertisement]”, in J. Scott Keltie, editor, The Geographical Journal, volume XI, number 1, London: Royal Geographical...
- [T]he flints of the plateau drifts are neither 'slabs' nor 'tablets,' they are of all shapes from rounded Eocene to hardly worn and sub-angular pebbles, differing but little from the mean of a score of Palaeolithic gravels. This presumed tabloid condition is bought about by a presumed 'Extreme...1898 February, W. J. Lewis Abbott, “The Authenticity of Plateau Implements”, in Natural Science: A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress, volume XII, number 72, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co....
- Resembling the style of journalism generally associated with a tabloid newspaper: appealing to unsophisticated people, sensational, etc.
- tabloid journalism
- I watched your 6 o'clock news today; it's straight tabloid. You had a minute and a half of that lady riding a bike naked in Central Park; on the other hand, you had less than a minute of hard national and international news.1976 November 27, Paddy Chayefsky, Network, spoken by Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway), Culver City, Calif.: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, →OCLC
Verb
tabloid (third-person singular simple present tabloids, present participle tabloiding, simple past and past participle tabloided)
- To express (something) in a compact or condensed manner, especially in the style of journalism generally associated with a tabloid newspaper (appealing to unsophisticated people, sensational, etc.).
- This "tabloiding" of the latest fashions, we thought an excellent idea. Surely it's not the sole mission of a dry goods ad. to give news of bargains? Would not reliable information as to coming fashions be of equal interest to the average woman?1902 April, “Good Advertising for Wide-awake Retailers”, in The Canadian Dry Goods Review, volume XII, number 4, Montreal, Que.; Toronto, Ont.: The MacLean Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 20, column 1
- You won't have trouble recognizing some of the much-tabloided originals on whom characters are based—for example, the rather lonely figure of the Italian-American singer-actor-producer-and-great lover.1969 March 31, Gerald Walker, “Books: Crime Pays but So Do Criminals: The Godfather; by Mario Puzo. Putnam, 446 pages, $6.95. [book review]”, in New York, volume 2, number 13, New York, N.Y.: New...
- To convert (a newspaper) into a tabloid (noun sense 2.2) format.
- The ‘tabloiding’ of local newspapers has resulted in a ‘dumbing down’ of the local press. The publication of shorter, brighter, ‘frothier’ stories and the increasing reliance on stories about entertainment, consumer items and ‘human interest’ stories, are the infallible hallmarks of the tabloid...1998, Bob Franklin, David Murphy, “Changing Times: Local Newspapers, Technology and Markets”, in Bob Franklin, David Murphy, editors, Making the Local News: Local Journalism in Context, London...
- The first key developments in the tabloiding of British newspapers are defined initially and literally by the shift of the Sun to a tabloid format in 1969 and the Daily Mail in 1971.2013, Martin Conboy, “Products”, in Journalism Studies (The Basics), Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 121
tabloid meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Sinhala
tabloid in Tamil
- சிறுபக்கச் செய்தித்தாள், சிறுமாத்திரை
tabloid in Urdu
- تلخیص شدہ
tabloid in Bengali
- newspaper especially characterized as favouring stories of a popular or sensational nature over serious news
- ট্যাবলয়েড ṭêbloẏeḍ
tabloid in Sinhala
- newspaper especially characterized as favouring stories of a popular or sensational nature over serious news
- ටැබ්ලොයිඩ් ṭæbloyiḍ
More languagesFewer languages
- tabloid in Tagalog
- tabloid
- tabloid in Arabic
- تابلويد
- tabloid in Malay
- tabloid
- tabloid in Indonesian
- tabloid
- tabloid in Thai
- แท็บลอยด์
- tabloid in Vietnamese
- báo khổ nhỏ
Examples of tabloid in a sentence
- ‘It's those tabloids!’ Conroy stamped his foot feebly as he blew his nose. ‘They’ve knocked me out.’1911, Rudyard Kipling, “In the Same Boat”, in A Diversity of Creatures, London: Macmillan and Co., […], published 1917, →OCLC, page 70:
- You have a couple of thousand pounds in exchequer bills, 50,000 shares worth tenpence a dozen, and half a dozen tabloids of cyanide of potassium to poison yourself with when you are found out.1913–1916 (date written; first performed 1920 November), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on...
- "Tabloids and duty!" says the doctor, and the sufferer sighs with relief.1914 October 11, “In camp: The day’s work of a W.A. soldier”, in The Sunday Times, number 875, Perth, W.A.: E. W. Finn for “The Sunday...
- "No drops or tabloids or anything of that kind?" "Certainly not; the medicines were kept in my room."1928, Dorothy L. Sayers, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club:
Synonyms of tabloid
Forms of tabloid
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tabloids |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | tabloids |
| present participle | tabloiding |
| past participle | tabloided |
| past | tabloided |
Origin of tabloid
The noun is derived from tabl(et) + -oid (suffix meaning ‘having the likeness of, resembling’), originally coined by the United Kingdom firm Burroughs, Wellcome & Company as a brand name for their medicines and other products such as tea in tablet form and registered as a trademark on 14 March 1884. Noun sense 2 (“compact or compressed version of something; especially something having a popular or sensational nature”) is influenced by noun sense 2.2 (“newspaper characterized as favouring stories of a popular or sensational nature over serious news”). The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.
Words formed from tabloid
Phrases with tabloid
Questions about tabloid
- What does tabloid mean?
- Tabloid means a small, compressed portion of a chemical, drug, food substance, etc.; a pill, a tablet.
- What is tabloid in Tamil?
- Tabloid in Tamil is சிறுபக்கச் செய்தித்தாள், சிறுமாத்திரை. See Tabloid meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use tabloid in a sentence?
- ‘It's those tabloids!’ Conroy stamped his foot feebly as he blew his nose. ‘They’ve knocked me out.’
- What part of speech is tabloid?
- Tabloid can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce tabloid?
- Tabloid is pronounced /ˈtæblɔɪd/ (UK).
- What is the plural of tabloid?
- The plural of tabloid is tabloids.
Words near tabloid in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tabloid (page history and authors); tabloid (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tabloid (Urdu Wiktionary) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tabloid.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-tabloid.wav.
Cite this entry: “tabloid.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tabloid. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.