tablet

[tab-lit]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tablet ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a number of sheets of writing paper, business forms, etc., fastened together at the edge; pad.

a flat slab or surface, especially one bearing or intended to bear an inscription, carving, or the like.

a thin, flat leaf or sheet of slate, wax-coated wood, or other rigid material, used for writing or marking on, especially one of a pair or set hinged or otherwise fastened together.

tablets, the set as a whole.

a small, flat, or flattish cake or piece of some solid or solidified substance, as a drug, chemical, or soap.

Also called tablet computer. a very thin, portable computer, usually battery-powered, having a touchscreen as the primary interface and input device and lacking a physical keyboard and lid.Compare laptop.

verb (used with object), tab·let·ed or tab·let·ted, tab·let·ing or tab·let·ting.

to furnish or mark with a tablet or plaque.

to mark or inscribe (memoranda, notes, etc.) on a tablet.

to form into tablets, cakes, pellets, etc.

Origin of tablet

1275–1325; Middle English tablette < Middle French tablete. See table, -et

Synonyms for tablet

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tablet ON THESAURUS.COM

2. plaque.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for tablet

medicine, capsule, pellet, pill, dose, ream, scratch, notebook, book, pad, folder, quire, cake, lozenge, square, troche

Examples from the Web for tablet

Contemporary Examples of tablet

She was detained after rebels found photos on her tablet computer showing supplies she gave to Ukrainian fighters.
The Corrupt Cops of Rebel-Held East Ukraine
Kristina Jovanovski
December 11, 2014
Enter the iSpoon, a conventional stirrer on one end and a tablet stylus on the other.
The Daily Beast’s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide: For the Richard Hendriks in Your Life
Allison McNearney
November 29, 2014
If you saw it in front of you, your pencil would drop, your tablet would fall from your lap.
How Mork Melted the Fonz: Henry Winkler Recalls Robin Williams’s Storming ‘Happy Days’ Debut
Tim Teeman
August 12, 2014
And you can take advantage of all this fabulous content on your laptop, tablet or smart phone for only $9.95 a month.
‘Lamestream Media’ Execs Are Running Palin TV
Lloyd Grove
July 28, 2014
You can download the Kindle App for free on your desktop or laptop computer, smart phone or tablet.
The Stacks: The Day ‘The Big Lebowski’ Came to Life
Alex Belth
July 26, 2014

Historical Examples of tablet

The celebrant kissed the tablet, and held it aloft before all the people.
English Villages
P. H. Ditchfield
They were to be seen at Molsheim, in the tablet which bore a representation of this miracle.
The Phantom World
Augustin Calmet
She was a fair child, her brow a tablet untouched by the stylus of sin.
Melomaniacs
James Huneker
Madame Beattie was exploring a little box for a tablet, which she took composedly.
The Prisoner
Alice Brown
"I could at least have erected a tablet to mark her resting-place," the man interposed.
The Masked Bridal
Mrs. Georgie Sheldon

British Dictionary definitions for tablet

tablet

noun

a medicinal formulation made of a compressed powdered substance containing an active drug and excipients

a flattish cake of some substance, such as soap

Scot a sweet made of butter, sugar, and condensed milk, usually shaped in a flat oblong block

a slab of stone, wood, etc, esp one formerly used for inscriptions

a thinner rigid sheet, as of bark, ivory, etc, used for similar purposes
(often plural)a set or pair of these fastened together, as in a book

a pad of writing paper

NZ a token giving right of way to the driver of a train on a single line section

computing an input device that allows the user to draw or write freehand to screen by means of stylus or digital pen

Word Origin for tablet

C14: from Old French tablete a little table, from Latin tabula a board

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for tablet

early 14c., "slab or flat surface for an inscription" (especially the two Mosaic tables of stone), from Old French tablete (13c.), diminutive of table "slab" (see table (n.)). The meaning "lozenge, pill" is first recorded 1580s; that of "pad of writing paper" in 1880.

tablet in Medicine

tablet

[tăb′lĭt]

n.

A small flat pellet of medication to be taken orally.