articulation

[ ahr-tik-yuh-ley-shuhn ]
See synonyms for articulation on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. an act or the process of articulating: the articulation of a form;the articulation of a new thought.

  2. Phonetics.

    • the act or process of articulating speech.

    • the adjustments and movements of speech organs involved in pronouncing a particular sound, taken as a whole.

    • any one of these adjustments and movements.

    • any speech sound, especially a consonant.

  1. the act of jointing.

  2. a jointed state or formation; a joint.

  3. Botany.

    • a joint or place between two parts where separation may take place spontaneously, as at the point of attachment of a leaf.

    • a node in a stem, or the space between two nodes.

  4. Anatomy, Zoology. a joint, as the joining or juncture of bones or of the movable segments of an arthropod.

  5. Dentistry.

    • the positioning of teeth in a denture, usually on an articulator, for correct occlusion.

    • the bringing of opposing tooth surfaces into contact with each other.

    • the relations of the upper and lower natural or artificial teeth in occlusion.

  6. a measure of the effectiveness of a telephonic transmission system in reproducing speech comprehensibly, expressed as the percentage of speech units uttered that is correctly understood.

Origin of articulation

1
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English articulacio(u)n, from Middle French, from Latin articulātiōn-, stem of articulātiō “division into distinct parts,” from articulāt(us) “divided into distinct parts” + -iō noun suffix; see articulate-ion

Other words from articulation

  • ar·tic·u·la·to·ry [ahr-tik-yuh-luh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee], /ɑrˈtɪk yə ləˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/, adjective
  • ar·tic·u·la·to·ri·ly, adverb
  • mis·ar·tic·u·la·tion, noun
  • re·ar·tic·u·la·tion, noun
  • sub·ar·tic·u·la·tion, noun
  • un·ar·tic·u·la·to·ry, adjective

Words Nearby articulation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use articulation in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for articulation

articulation

/ (ɑːˌtɪkjʊˈleɪʃən) /


noun
  1. the act or process of speaking or expressing in words

    • the process of articulating a speech sound

    • the sound so produced, esp a consonant

  1. the act or the state of being jointed together

  2. the form or manner in which something is jointed

  3. zoology

    • a joint such as that between bones or arthropod segments

    • the way in which jointed parts are connected

  4. botany the part of a plant at which natural separation occurs, such as the joint between leaf and stem

  5. a joint or jointing

Derived forms of articulation

  • articulatory, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for articulation

articulation

[ är-tĭk′yə-lāshən ]


  1. The arrangement of parts connected by joints.

  2. A fixed or movable joint between bones.

  1. A movable joint between inflexible parts of the body of an animal, as the divisions of an appendage in arthropods.

  2. A joint between two separable parts, as a leaf and a stem.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.