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tabloid

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: tabloïd and Tabloid

English

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WOTD – 24 April 2025

Etymology

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Tabloids (sense 2.3) on sale at a newsstand in the United Kingdom.

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.[1]

Sense 2 (“compact or compressed version of something; especially something having a popular or sensational nature”) is influenced by sense 2.3 (“newspaper characterized as favouring stories of a popular or sensational nature over serious news”).

The adjective[1] and verb[2] are derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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tabloid (plural tabloids)

  1. (archaic) A small, compressed portion of a chemical, drug, food substance, etc.; a pill, a tablet. [from late 19th c.]
    • 1890 November 15, “Medicines Supplied to the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition”, in Thomas H. Wakley, Thomas Wakley, Jun., editors, The Lancet: A Journal of British and Foreign Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics, Physiology, Chemistry, Pharmacology, Public Health, and News, volume II, number 3507, London: [Thomas H. Wakley and Thomas Wakley, Jun.] […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1037, column 1:
      One of the compartments was found to contain some forty compressed tabloids, which on analysis proved to be potassium bromide.
    • 1908 October 17, “Our Note Book. Photographic Tabloids.”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, volume XXXI, number 3 (number 1553 overall), London: “Boy’s Own Paper” Office, […], →OCLC, page 64, column 3:
      Messrs. Burroughs and Wellcome have for some years past made a specialty of supplying various developers and other photographic preparations in "tabloid" form. 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. […] A word of warning with respect to these convenient preparations may not be amiss: it is that in these days, when so many medicines are made up in tabloid form, great care is quite necessary to avoid any chance of mistakes by the mixing together of medicine tabloids and photographic tabloids, which may contain harmful chemicals, and might be inadvertently swallowed by mistake for the medicines.
    • 1911, Rudyard Kipling, “In the Same Boat”, in A Diversity of Creatures, London: Macmillan and Co., […], published 1917, →OCLC, page 70:
      'It's those tabloids!' Conroy stamped his foot feebly as he blew his nose. 'They’ve knocked me out. I used to be fit once. Oh, I've tried exercise and everything. But—if one sits down for a minute when it's due—even at four in the morning—it runs up behind one.'
    • 1913–1916 (date written; first performed 1920 November), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes”, in Heartbreak House, Great Catherine, and Playlets of the War, London: Constable and Company, published 1919, →OCLC, Act III, page 100:
      Oh, dont explain. We understand. 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. Thats the reality of your millions.
      Shaw used idiosyncratic punctuation in his works.
    • 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 Times” Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1, column 8:
      "Crook in the guts," he says tersely. The picturesque reports of previously-treated and disgusted patients have left him doubtful, and he casts an anathematising eye upon the "Black Jack" bottle. "Tabloids and duty!" says the doctor, and the sufferer sighs with relief. There's no taste in tabloids, anyhow, and he reckons the doctor "ain't a bad poor something, after all!"
  3. (figurative) A compact or compressed version of something; especially something having a popular or sensational nature.
    1. (Should we delete(+) this sense?)(aviation, historical) A small biplane manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company and used during World War I (1914–1918).
    2. (nautical) In full tabloid cruiser: a small yacht used for cruising.
      • 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 Any Water Safe for Any Boat of Her Inches […] Part I”, in Charles F[rederic] Chapman, editor, Motor Boating: The Yachtsman’s Magazine, volume XLVI, number 3, New York, N.Y.: [s.n.], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 42, column 2:
        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.
    4. (newspapers) A newspaper having pages half the dimensions of a broadsheet, especially characterized as favouring stories of a popular or sensational nature over serious news. [from early 20th c.]
      Synonyms: rag, red top, scandal sheet, (informal) tab
      Coordinate terms: broadsheet, compact, quality newspaper
      • 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, First Session (United States Senate), volume 113, part 10, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12998, column 2:
        […] 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".
      • 2009 January 20, Dan Shive, “Sister 2: Part 5: Moperville News”, in El Goonish Shive‎[1] (webcomic), archived from the original on 2024-11-05:
        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!
      • 2024 February 21, Nick Brodrick, “Inclusion and Development for All”, in Rail, number 1003, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 62:
        Train operating companies get plenty of column inches in the tabloids, usually for negative reasons. Happily, Southeastern is worthy of praise for having made The Sun for something positive.
    5. (Canada, US, printing) A paper size 11 × 17 inches (279 × 432 millimetres) in dimensions.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Adjective

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tabloid (not comparable)

  1. In the form of a tabloid (noun sense 2 and sense 2.3): compressed or compact in size.
    • [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 Society, […]; Edward Stanford, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, back cover:
      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, require neither weighing nor measuring, and retain their activity after exposure to the most trying climates.
      Probably used as a trademark.]
    • 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. […], →OCLC, section II, page 112:
      [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 Cold'; which, of course, is warmed into sunshine by the light of actual fact.
    • 1911 June 10, W. W. Masterson, “Druggists’ Specialties in Turkey”, in Daily Consular and Trade Reports, volume 2, number 135, Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Manufactures, Department of Commerce and Labor, →OCLC, page 1107:
      Wares other than drugs for compounding prescriptions are being brought in; tabloid medicines are being introduced, proprietary and other goods are coming in, and toilet and fancy articles of limited amounts are being displayed.
    • 1916 September 30, Josephine Hart Phelps, “Drama: The Orpheum”, in Alfred Holman, editor, The Argonaut, volume LXXIX, number 2062, San Francisco, Calif.: Argonaut Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 218, column 2:
      "The Dairy Maid," an alleged song, is really a recitation; a sort of tabloid sentimental melodrama.
    • 1920, Rose Macaulay, “The Precisian at War with the World”, in Potterism: A Tragi-farcical Tract, London; Glasgow: W[illiam] Collins Sons & Co., →OCLC, part VI (Told by R. M.), section 3, page 232:
      Even though people might like their science in cheap and absurd tabloid form, they did like it. The Potter press exulted in scientific discoveries made easy, but it was better than not exulting in them at all.
  2. (figurative) Resembling the style of journalism generally associated with a tabloid newspaper: appealing to unsophisticated people, sensational, etc.
    tabloid journalism
    • 1976 November 27, Paddy Chayefsky, Network, spoken by Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway), Culver City, Calif.: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, →OCLC:
      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.
    • 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders: Making sense of the statistics that riddle our days: The Norm Chronicles: Stories and Numbers about Danger. By Michael Blastland and David Spiegelhalter. Profile; 328 pages; £12.99. [book review]”, in The Economist‎[2], volume 407, number 8841, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2013-06-22, page 76:
      Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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tabloid (third-person singular simple present tabloids, present participle tabloiding, simple past and past participle tabloided) (transitive)

  1. 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.).
    • 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:
      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?
    • 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 York Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 59, 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.
    • 2002 November, Mitchell Krugel, “Bull”, in One Last Shot: The Story of Michael Jordan’s Comeback, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, →ISBN, section 3, page 177:
      If Michael [Jordan] is upset, though, because the Chicago Sun-Times has tabloided his private life with the front-page headline, "So who gets the house?" he isn't saying.
  2. (newspapers) To convert (a newspaper) into a tabloid (noun sense 2.3) format.
    • 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: Routledge, →ISBN, part I (Local Newspapers and Local Media), page 15:
      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 genre.
    • 2013, Martin Conboy, “Products”, in Journalism Studies (The Basics), Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 121:
      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.

Translations

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “tabloid, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; “tabloid, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “tabloid, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading

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Italian

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Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia it

Etymology

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Borrowed from English tabloid.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /taˈblɔjd/
  • Rhymes: -ɔjd
  • Hyphenation: ta‧blòid

Noun

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tabloid m (invariable)

  1. tabloid

Polish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English tabloid.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /taˈblɔ.it/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔit
  • Syllabification: ta‧blo‧id

Noun

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tabloid m inan

  1. tabloid
    Synonyms: brukowiec, szmatławiec

Declension

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Declension of tabloid
singular plural
nominative tabloid tabloidy
genitive tabloidu tabloidów
dative tabloidowi tabloidom
accusative tabloid tabloidy
instrumental tabloidem tabloidami
locative tabloidzie tabloidach
vocative tabloidzie tabloidy

Further reading

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  • tabloid in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • tabloid in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English tabloid or French tabloïde.

Adjective

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tabloid m or n (feminine singular tabloidă, masculine plural tabloizi, feminine and neuter plural tabloide)

  1. tabloid

Declension

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Declension of tabloid
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative-
accusative 		indefinite tabloid tabloidă tabloizi tabloide
definite tabloidul tabloida tabloizii tabloidele
genitive-
dative 		indefinite tabloid tabloide tabloizi tabloide
definite tabloidului tabloidei tabloizilor tabloidelor

Noun

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tabloid n (plural tabloizi)

  1. tabloid

Declension

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Declension of tabloid
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative tabloid tabloidul tabloizi tabloizile
genitive-dative tabloid tabloidului tabloizi tabloizilor
vocative tabloidule tabloizilor
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