ARTICULATE

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does articulate mean? 

• ARTICULATE (adjective)
  The adjective ARTICULATE has 2 senses:

1. expressing yourself easily or characterized by clear expressive language

2. consisting of segments held together by joints

  Familiarity information: ARTICULATE used as an adjective is rare.

• ARTICULATE (verb)
  The verb ARTICULATE has 5 senses:

1. provide with a joint

2. put into words or an expression

3. speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way

4. unite by forming a joint or joints

5. express or state clearly

  Familiarity information: ARTICULATE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ARTICULATE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Expressing yourself easily or characterized by clear expressive language

Context example:

articulate beings

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

Similar:

jointed (having joints or jointed segments)

• ARTICULATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they articulate ... he / she / it articulates   
Past simple: articulated   
Past participle: articulated   
-ing form: articulating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Provide with a joint

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

articulate; joint

Context example:

the carpenter jointed two pieces of wood

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 2

Meaning:

Put into words or an expression

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

articulate; formulate; give voice; phrase; word

Context example:

He formulated his concerns to the board of trustees

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 3

Meaning:

Speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

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

Context example:

Can the child sound out this complicated word?

"Articulate" entails doing...:

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

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

devoice (utter with tense vocal chords)

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)

subvocalise; subvocalize (articulate without making audible sounds)

twang (pronounce with a nasal twang)

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)

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

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 4

Meaning:

Unite by forming a joint or joints

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

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

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

Sense 5

Meaning:

Express or state clearly

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

articulate; enunciate; vocalise; vocalize

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)

 Context examples 

As soon as they entered the house, Marianne with a kiss of gratitude and these two words just articulate through her tears, "Tell mama," withdrew from her sister and walked slowly up stairs.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

His voice was shrill, but very clear and articulate; and I could distinctly hear it when I stood up.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

A small flat triangular bone in front of the knee that articulates with the femur and protects the knee joint.

(Patella, NCI Thesaurus)

Love came into the world before articulate speech, and in its own early youth it had learned ways and means that it had never forgotten.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The largest aspect articulates with the humerus at the elbow joint and the smallest portion of the ulna articulates with the carpal bones in the wrist.

(Murine Ulna, NCI Thesaurus)

It is located posterior to the frontal process of the maxilla and articulates with the inferior nasal concha, ethmoid, frontal, and maxillary bones.

(Lacrimal Bone, NCI Thesaurus)

The five long bones of the METATARSUS articulating with the TARSAL BONES proximally and the TOES (phalanges) distally.

(Metatarsal Bone, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Mercury, crowded in with the other planets in the same house, will help you be articulate and well organized.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

"That very finger," he managed to articulate, as though it somehow clinched the proof of ownership and the bond of affection.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Mrs. Crupp was taken with a troublesome cough, in the midst of which she articulated with much difficulty.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)