tabloid

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun sensationalist journalism
  2. noun newspaper with half-size pages

Etymology

The noun is derived from tabl(et) + -oid (suffix meaning ‘having the likeness of, resembling’), originally coined by the United Kingdom firm Burroughs, Wellcome & Company as a brand name for their medicines and other products such as tea in tablet form and registered as a trademark on 14 March 1884. Noun sense 2 (“compact or compressed version of something; especially something having a popular or sensational nature”) is influenced by noun sense 2.2 (“newspaper characterized as favouring stories of a popular or sensational nature over serious news”). The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.

In classic literature

Synonyms

yellow journalism, tab

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