tabloid
Americannoun
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a newspaper whose pages, usually five columns wide, are about one-half the size of a standard-sized newspaper page.
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a newspaper this size concentrating on sensational and lurid news, usually heavily illustrated.
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a short form or version; condensation; synopsis; summary.
adjective
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compressed or condensed in or as if in a tabloid.
a tabloid article; a tabloid account of the adventure.
-
luridly or vulgarly sensational.
noun
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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
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(modifier) designed to appeal to a mass audience or readership; sensationalist
the tabloid press
tabloid television
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tabloid
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.
Vocabulary lists containing tabloid
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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.
Cercy said that “attempting to insinuate otherwise and tear him down with a baseless, lie-filled tabloid story is not real reporting.”
From Salon • Jul. 7, 2026
The story of our origins becomes a tabloid romance.
From Science Daily • Jul. 7, 2026
The prince has spoken extensively about the impact that tabloid newspapers, paparazzi and private investigators have had on his life.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 7, 2026
In the end journalists from the Daily Mail tabloid found him in a rescue centre in south London.
From Barron's • Jul. 1, 2026
"Easy for you to say. What if she decides she needs money two years from now and she rats me out to some sleazy supermarket tabloid? Then what? Then I'm screwed, that's what."
From "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clements
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.
