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; see 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

The lawsuit put at risk the status of Brazil’s hundreds of Indigenous territories, said rights group Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, known by the Portuguese acronym Apib.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 21, 2023

But she became head of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, the country’s largest Indigenous advocacy organization.

From Washington Post • Feb. 18, 2023

"This process around biodiversity needs to put indigenous people at the center," said Dinamam Tuxa, a lawyer for Brazil's largest indigenous umbrella group, the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil.

From Reuters • Dec. 8, 2022

Articulation refers to how clearly a person produces sounds.

From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021

Articulation depends on what is happening at the beginning and end of each segment, as well as in between the segments.

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

Related Words

• diction