tabloid

American  

[tab-loid] / ˈtæb lɔɪd /

noun

• tabloids
  plural

1. a newspaper whose pages, usually five columns wide, are about one-half the size of a standard-sized newspaper page.

2. a newspaper this size concentrating on sensational and lurid news, usually heavily illustrated.

3. a short form or version; condensation; synopsis; summary.

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adjective

1. compressed or condensed in or as if in a tabloid.

   a tabloid article; a tabloid account of the adventure.

2. luridly or vulgarly sensational.

tabloid British  

/ ˈtæblɔɪd /

noun

1. a newspaper with pages about 30 cm (12 inches) by 40 cm (16 inches), usually characterized by an emphasis on photographs and a concise and often sensational style Compare broadsheet

2. (modifier) designed to appeal to a mass audience or readership; sensationalist

   the tabloid press

   tabloid television

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tabloidism
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tabloids
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tabloid

First recorded in 1905–10; tabl(et) + -oid

Explanation

A tabloid is a newspaper, especially one that's smaller than a traditional daily paper and focuses on sensational news items. If you're lucky, you might read some juicy tabloid headlines when you pass the corner newsstand. A tabloid is more likely to print celebrity gossip or crime stories with large photographs than news about international issues or the economy, especially on the front page. Tabloids aren't taken entirely seriously as journalism, although they are very popular and tend to sell well. The word tabloid originally meant "small tablet of medicine" in the 1880's. By 1900, it also meant "a compressed form of anything," including journalism.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tabloid tabloids

A gritty throwback to print journalism: Danny Boyle’s new film, Ink, depicts Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of the Sun, turning it into the United Kingdom’s top tabloid paper.

From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026

It’s the same reason that in the newspaper world, they would put things on tabloid front pages that you would never do today.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

He added that people should learn from Princess Diana's example, and that for anyone being "destroyed daily" by the tabloid press, it must be a "cancerous influence" on their lives.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

Curry recurs in Téa Leoni’s excellent sitcom as Sir Rudolph Halley, the imperious, amoral owner of the tabloid paper where Nora, Leoni’s character, works as a photographer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

The story was half detective fiction, half tabloid journalism, and wholly satisfying.

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day

This thrust him into the limelight, with tabloids snapping photos of him travelling and with his new wife.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

Markle quickly found herself in the beloved “bad boy” Royal’s orbit — including the tireless swarm of tabloids and paparazzi who have captured almost his every move from childhood.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

Prince Harry, who relocates back to Britain shortly with his family, will open a new chapter in his ever-eventful life which once seemed improbable amid royal feuds, battles over security and lawsuits against UK tabloids.

From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026

Then Harry met Meghan, offering the tabloids new material.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Genuine science and mathematical precision are more intriguing than are the “facts” published in supermarket tabloids or a romantic innumeracy which fosters credulity, stunts skepticism, and dulls one to real imponderables.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Related Words

• paper