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What was the subject of news articles leading to a 1971 Supreme Court battle over freedom of the press?

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article

American  

[ahr-ti-kuhl] / ˈɑr tɪ kəl /

noun

• articles
  plural

1. a written composition in prose, usually nonfiction, on a specific topic, forming an independent part of a book or other publication, as a newspaper or magazine.

2. an individual object, member, or portion of a class; an item or particular: articles of clothing.

   an article of food;

   articles of clothing.

3. something of indefinite character or description.

   What is that article?

4. an item for sale; commodity.

5. Grammar. any member of a small class of words, or, as in Swedish or Romanian, affixes, found in certain languages, as English, French, and Arabic, that are linked to nouns and that typically have a grammatical function identifying the noun as a noun rather than describing it. In English the definite article is the, the indefinite article is a or an, and their force is generally to impart specificity to the noun or to single out the referent from the class named by the noun.

6. a clause, item, point, or particular in a contract, treaty, or other formal agreement; a condition or stipulation in a contract or bargain.

   The lawyers disagreed on the article covering plagiarism suits.

7. a separate clause or provision of a statute.

8. Slang. a person.

   Trust me, this guy's not just any article, he's Mr. Right.

9. Archaic. a subject or matter of interest, thought, business, etc.

10. Obsolete. a specific or critical point of time; juncture or moment.

    the article of death.

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verb (used with object)

articled, articling

1. to set forth in articles; charge or accuse specifically.

   They articled his alleged crimes.

2. to bind by articles of covenant or stipulation.

   to article an apprentice.

article British  

/ ˈɑːtɪkəl /

noun

1. one of a class of objects; item

   an article of clothing

2. an unspecified or previously named thing, esp a small object

   he put the article on the table

3. a distinct part of a subject or action

4. a written composition on a subject, often being one of several found in a magazine, newspaper, etc

5. grammar a kind of determiner, occurring in many languages including English, that lacks independent meaning but may serve to indicate the specificity of reference of the noun phrase with which it occurs See also definite article indefinite article

6. a clause or section in a written document such as a treaty, contract, statute, etc

7. formerly, undergoing training, according to the terms of a written contract, in the legal profession

8. (often capital) Christianity See article of faith Thirty-nine Articles

9. archaic a topic or subject

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verb

1. archaic to accuse

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subarticle
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• articles
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of article

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Medieval Latin articulus “article of faith,” Latin: “joint, limb, member, clause, grammatical article,” equivalent to arti- (combining form of artus “joint”; akin to arthro-, arm ² ) + -culus diminutive ( see -cule ¹)

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Explanation

A piece of non-fiction prose written for a publication is one kind of article. But a piece of a collection of something is also an article, like an article of clothing. If you're talking grammar, definite and indefinite articles are words, such as a, an, and the, whose purpose is to indicate, specify and limit a noun. An article of faith is something that is firmly believed. And an article of organization or incorporation is a section of a legal document that sets out rules for a company.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

article articles articled articling

In a brilliant 2020 article for the Washington Post, just as the world was learning to sit still during the first assault of Covid-19, the critic Michael Andor Brodeur found Feldman’s music particularly congenial.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2026

A recent article about a popular humanities course for Harvard freshmen sparked a lot of conversation among our readers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2026

"The depiction is not something I recognise," Borthwick told Rugby Union Weekly of the Times article, emphasising that meetings between senior players and coaches are a feature of most coaching set-ups.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

The Saracens hooker, who was made England captain by Borthwick in 2024 before the role passed to Maro Itoje 12 months later, said that he did not recognise the situation described by the article.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

I moved on to the next article in the list.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

The first point to note about these articles is that they are a notable departure from either of the two prior cases in U.S. history in which a Cabinet officer has been impeached.

From Slate ● Nov. 10, 2026

In the clip, he addressed talks of Massie's impeachment effort, referring to the threat as "sham articles".

From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2026

I wrote everything down, began to publish articles here and there, and found a niche writing for food, travel and lifestyle periodicals.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

Gertrude Brou has worked in the industry for 15 years, selling funeral articles and dressing the dead.

From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026

“Regiments are costly articles everywhere,” he explained to his secretary of war, “and more so in this country than any other under the sun.”

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

An earlier version of this articled misidentified the president whom Michael Jordan skipped out on meeting.

From New York Times ● Jun. 4, 2018

After leaving school in 1944 to become articled to a firm of accountants, he continued with semi-professional "vent shows" several nights a week.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 20, 2013

Briefly Frank was articled to a Cheltenham estate agent, before joining the Stroud News as a local reporter in 1956.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 25, 2013

Son of a British actor, Herbert Marshall fitted himself, at St. Mary's College, to be an articled clerk.

From Time Magazine Archive

The fact that Lazar Sidelsky, one of the firm’s partners, would take on a young African as an articled clerk — something almost unheard of in those days — was evidence of that liberalism.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

If we demur to a doctrine because we cannot fully and adequately comprehend it, is not this too familiar from a creature towards his Creator, and articling more strictly with Almighty God than becomes us?'

From The English Church in the Eighteenth Century by Charles J. (Charles John) Abbey

Fortunately he went on probation of three weeks before articling.

From Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 Sexual Inversion by Havelock Ellis

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Related Words

• column
• commentary
• editorial
• essay
• feature
• item
• paper
• piece
• story

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