articulation

American  

[ahr-tik-yuh-ley-shuhn] / ɑrˌtɪk yəˈleɪ ʃən /

noun

1. an act or the process of articulating.

   the articulation of a form;

   the articulation of a new thought.

2. Phonetics.

   1. the act or process of articulating speech.

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

   3. any one of these adjustments and movements.

   4. any speech sound, especially a consonant.

3. the act of jointing.

4. a jointed state or formation; a joint.

5. Botany.

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

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

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

7. Dentistry.

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

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

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

8. 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.

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articulation British  

/ ɑːˌtɪkjʊˈleɪʃən /

noun

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

2. 1. the process of articulating a speech sound

   2. the sound so produced, esp a consonant

3. the act or the state of being jointed together

4. the form or manner in which something is jointed

5. zoology

   1. a joint such as that between bones or arthropod segments

   2. the way in which jointed parts are connected

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

7. a joint or jointing

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articulation Scientific  

/ är-tĭk′yə-lā′shən /

1. The arrangement of parts connected by joints.

2. A fixed or movable joint between bones.

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

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

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Other Word Forms

• articulatorily adverb
• articulatory adjective
• misarticulation noun
• rearticulation noun
• subarticulation noun
• unarticulatory adjective

Etymology

Origin of articulation

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; articulate -ion

Explanation

Articulation is the act of expressing something in a coherent verbal form, or an aspect of pronunciation involving the articulatory organs. Articulation comes from the Latin word for "jointed" or "divided into joints." So it makes sense that the word's original definition described movement at a joint, as in the articulation of your fingers while you're typing. (The joints themselves can also be called articulations.) This noun also describes the act of joining things in such a way that makes motion possible.

Example Sentences

If you’ve ever skied in the afternoon light, when it’s difficult to see any articulation in the slope, just white everywhere you look, you can understand how having those points of reference would be helpful.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 15, 2026

But he was moved so deeply by what he was reading—so enthralled by the man’s articulation of that nation’s ideals—that he’d devote the rest of his life to studying them both.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026

But the history of those cases is not just the articulation of a more inclusive vision regarding whose rights should be protected.

From Salon • Jul. 14, 2024

“No speech-to-text system is able to model all this variability in articulation and pronunciation to a good level yet,” she says.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 26, 2024

Descriptions of how each articulation is done cannot be given here, because they depend too much on the particular instrument that is making the music.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

Related Words

• diction