paragraph
Americannoun
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paragraphs
plural
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a distinct portion of written or printed matter dealing with a particular idea, usually beginning with an indentation on a new line.
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a note, item, or brief article, as in a newspaper.
verb (used with object)
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paragraphs,
present (3rd person singular)
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paragraphed,
past participle, past
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paragraphing
present participle
-
to divide into paragraphs.
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to write or publish paragraphs about, as in a newspaper.
-
to express in a paragraph.
noun
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(in a piece of writing) one of a series of subsections each usually devoted to one idea and each usually marked by the beginning of a new line, indentation, increased interlinear space, etc
-
printing the character ¶, used as a reference mark or to indicate the beginning of a new paragraph
-
a short article in a newspaper
verb
-
to form into paragraphs
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to express or report in a paragraph
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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paragraphismnoun
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subparagraphnoun
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paragraphicadjective
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paragraphisticaladjective
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unparagraphedadjective
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well-paragraphedadjective
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paragraphicallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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paragraphsimple
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paragraphssimple
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have paragraphedperfect
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has paragraphedperfect
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am paragraphingprogressive
-
are paragraphingprogressive
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is paragraphingprogressive
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have been paragraphingperfect progressive
-
has been paragraphingperfect progressive
Past
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paragraphedsimple
-
had paragraphedperfect
-
was paragraphingprogressive
-
were paragraphingprogressive
-
had been paragraphingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of paragraph
1515–25; earlier paragraphe < Greek paragraphḗ marked passage; see para- 1, graph
Explanation
A full page of text with no visible breaks is hard to read. That’s why you break your ideas up into groups of sentences, called paragraphs. Each paragraph contains logically connected sentences about one main idea. If your teacher asks you to write a paragraph on learning vocabulary words, you will write several sentences that describe how to learn vocabulary. Each sentence will add to the topic and will connect one to the other. The length of a paragraph will vary. Your teacher might require just three or four sentences to accurately describe vocabulary learning. Unless he’s a fan of James Joyce. Then your paragraph might need to extend for pages and pages.
Vocabulary lists containing paragraph
PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade7)
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Write On!: Graph and Gram
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The SAT: Language of the Test, List 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
My middle-school civics textbook barely dedicated a paragraph to this 1801 war between the U.S and a group of North African states, which has been described as “America’s first war on terrorism.”
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
It’s almost too stunning to carry on after hearing such news—but to a second paragraph of this entry we must go.
From Slate ● Jun. 19, 2026
The first paragraph of the agreement notes that the US, Iran and allies will declare an "immediate and permanent" termination of military operations on "all fronts" - including Lebanon.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
SpaceX also described what it called the “the largest actionable total addressable market” in human history, totaling $28.5 trillion, in the first paragraph on Page 11 of the filing.
From MarketWatch ● May 22, 2026
“Inside these folders, you’ll find your buddies’ schedules, as well as a paragraph with a little bit about the person assigned to you.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
The official rules on estate recovery take up just three paragraphs on Medicaid’s website.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
One recent Prep Talk was 11 paragraphs about Val Moreno, a man serving his 33rd season on the Servite football chain crew.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
I am sure of it not because I remember writing this thing in fits and starts throughout Saturday, but because an A.I. detector called Pangram blessed these paragraphs with a “100% Human Written” score.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
I spent the first three paragraphs of a recent column distinguishing between acknowledging failed climate policy and questioning climate science.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
I needed to look up whole paragraphs of words in a dictionary.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
It certainly was playing to the Press, for Mr. Gladstone's attitude on that occasion was paragraphed all over the country, by means of which fact I have here refreshed my memory.
From The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol. 1 by Harry Furniss
The Lead.—The lead itself is always paragraphed separately.
From Newspaper Reporting and Correspondence A Manual for Reporters, Correspondents, and Students of Newspaper Writing by Grant Milnor Hyde
Let the reader only remember what I have just said, that most of them are miserably reported, paragraphed and stopped, and make allowance accordingly.
From A Sketch of the Life and Labors of George Whitefield by John Charles Ryle
They are very brief, follow a prescribed form and, if necessary, are paragraphed in the same way as the letter.
From Military Instructors Manual by Oliver Schoonmaker
The first word of every group of words paragraphed separately in an itemized list, as in an order for merchandise.
From Business English A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig
Determine how genre conventions for structure, paragraphing, tone, and mechanics vary.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021
Correctly identify and use conventions of the personal narrative genre, including structure, paragraphing, tone, and mechanics.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021
It's a massive book, littered with obscure references, and is written almost entirely in unattributed speech, with no chapter breaks and very little paragraphing.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 22, 2013
Caro now says that Shawn agreed to restore all the changes he cared most deeply about, but the magazine version nevertheless differs from the original and changes Caro’s punctuation and paragraphing.
From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2012
Among the many dumb rules of paragraphing foisted on students in composition courses is the one that says that a paragraph may not consist of a single sentence.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
