paragraph
Americannoun
-
paragraphs
plural
-
a distinct portion of written or printed matter dealing with a particular idea, usually beginning with an indentation on a new line.
-
a note, item, or brief article, as in a newspaper.
verb (used with object)
-
paragraphs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
paragraphed,
past participle, past
-
paragraphing
present participle
-
to divide into paragraphs.
-
to write or publish paragraphs about, as in a newspaper.
-
to express in a paragraph.
noun
-
(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
-
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
-
paragraphisticaladjective
-
unparagraphedadjective
-
well-paragraphedadjective
-
paragraphicallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
paragraphsimple
-
paragraphssimple
-
have paragraphedperfect
-
has paragraphedperfect
-
am paragraphingprogressive
-
are paragraphingprogressive
-
is paragraphingprogressive
-
have been paragraphingperfect progressive
-
has been paragraphingperfect progressive
Past
-
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)
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Write On!: Graph and Gram
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The SAT: Language of the Test, List 4
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
I would worry about offending my children, but they stopped reading after the first paragraph.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
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
The framework’s first paragraph declares “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”
From Slate ● Jun. 17, 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
The paragraph ended at a drawing of a sprig of mistletoe, and Anya looked up at the woman.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
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
"They are already identifying 70% of our hearts attacks from two paragraphs of text," said Swinburn.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
Trump and his aides have heralded as a major accomplishment the eighth of the framework’s 14 paragraphs, which states: “The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons.”
From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2026
I sit at my desk now, surrounded by versions of paragraphs and pages of this book, considering that question.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
One day Field said to Bok: "I am going to make you the most widely paragraphed man in America."
From The Americanization of Edward Bok : the autobiography of a Dutch boy fifty years after by Edward William Bok
But I have paragraphed it in the Nation, to which I refer you.
From The Letters of Henry James (volume I) by Henry James
Whether you wrote as Jones, or Smith, or Robinson, you'd find Jones, Smith, or Robinson artfully puffed and paragraphed and thrust under people's noses in the papers.
From The Big Drum A Comedy in Four Acts by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero
But within three days the date of the wedding was fixed, and all the papers paragraphed it far and wide.
From The Rhodesian by Gertrude Page
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
Correctly identify and use conventions of the personal narrative genre, including structure, paragraphing, tone, and mechanics.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021
Determine how genre conventions for structure, paragraphing, tone, and mechanics vary.
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.
