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

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)

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

The lawsuit cites a lengthy article about Meta’s AI glasses by Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

His quote appeared in the April 18, 1988, issue of the New Republic, in an article by Ari Posner about ghostwriting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Read our article on why some US restaurants are banning tips.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

Our article shows that racial health disparities come from both differences in exposure to environmental stressors and different underlying vulnerability stemming from, for instance, genetics or access to healthcare.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Even with my observational data and the magazine article, would my parents believe me?

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

Website articles, social media posts and column inches have been filled this week with the news that highly rated 15-year-old forward JJ Gabriel is on the verge of leaving Manchester United.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

A few blocks north of Canal Street, where tourists pick up fake designer bags for a fraction of what the genuine articles retail for, another kind of luxury mimicry has emerged.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

While there were established columnists like Walter Winchell, Adela Rogers St. Johns, Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, most articles in these magazines either went unbylined or were written under pseudonyms.

From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026

The more attractive yields already available in the bond market, as well as seasonal influences, are among the factors driving a series of articles on what investors should do ahead of a possible stock-market pullback:

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

At work, it came as bittersweet to sit down at the Linotype machine and copy articles.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

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

When he was 16, Thomas Hardy was articled to a Dorchester architect.

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

Fortunately he went on probation of three weeks before articling.

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

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

Related Words

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