Definition of tabloid noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary



    BrE BrE//ˈtæblɔɪd//
    ; NAmE NAmE//ˈtæblɔɪd//
    The press
    jump to other results
  1. 1a newspaper with small pages (usually half the size of those in larger papers) compare Berliner, broadsheet See related entries: The press
  2. 2(sometimes disapproving) a newspaper of this size with short articles and a lot of pictures and stories about famous people, often thought of as less serious than other newspapers The story made the front page in all the tabloids. I despair when I read what passes for news in some of the tabloids. You shouldn’t believe everything you read in the tabloids. Culture Most of Britain's most popular newspapers are tabloids. These include the Sun, the Mirror, the Express and the Daily Mail. Although some tabloids are serious newspapers and many of the traditional broadsheets are now published in tabloid size, many people talk about tabloid journalism or the tabloid press to refer to a type of newspaper that contains many articles about sex, sport and famous people, and little serious news, and that may be insulting to women and people from other countries. The word tabloid is less widely used in the US, where most of the important national newspapers are of a regular size. The best-known US tabloid, which uses short articles and large photographs, is the New York Daily News. Serious tabloids include the Chicago Sun-Times. compare broadsheet See related entries: The press
  3. compare quality newspaper see also red-top
    Word Originlate 19th cent.: from tablet + -oid. Originally the proprietary name of a medicine sold in tablets, the term came to denote any small medicinal tablet; the current sense reflects the notion of “concentrated, easily absorbed”. CulturenewspapersMany British families buy a national or local newspaper every day. Some have it delivered to their home by a paper boy or paper girl; others buy it from a newsagent (= a shop that sells newspapers, magazines, sweets, etc.) or a bookstall. Many people read a newspaper online and the number doing this is increasing very fast. Some newspapers charge for their online edition. National dailies are published each morning except Sunday. Competition between them is fierce. Local daily papers, which are written for people in a particular city or region, are sometimes published in the morning but more often in the early evening.The US has only one national newspaper, USA Today. The rest are local. A few newspapers from large cities, such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, are read all over the country. The International New York Timesformerly theInternational Herald Tribune is published outside the US and is read by Americans abroad. Many Americans subscribe to a newspaper which is delivered to their house. This costs less than buying it in a shop. Papers can also be bought in bookshops and supermarkets and most newspapers have online versions.In Britain the newspaper industry is still sometimes called Fleet Street, the name of the street in central London where many newspapers used to have their offices. Britain has two kinds of national newspaper: the quality papers and the tabloids, now sometimes called the red tops. The qualities were also called the broadsheets because they were printed on large pages, but are now often in tabloid size which is half the size of a broadsheet. They report national and international news and are serious in tone. They have editorials which comment on important issues and reflect the political views of the paper's editor. They also contain financial and sports news, features (= articles), obituaries (= life histories of famous people who have just died), listings, crosswords, cartoons and comic strips, advertisementsand the weather forecast.The tabloids report news in less depth. They concentrate on human-interest stories (= stories about people), and often discuss the personal lives of famous people. People who disapprove of the tabloids call them the gutter press. The most popular are The Sun, The Mirror, The Express and The Daily Mail. The News of the World, a Sunday tabloid, at one time sold more copies than any other newspaper in Britain, but it was closed down in 2011, after it had been accused of phone hacking.There are also local papers, many of which are weeklies (= published once a week). They contain news of local events and sport, carry advertisements for local businesses, and give details of houses, cars and other items for sale. Some are paid for by the advertisements they contain and are delivered free to people's homes. Some cities also have a daily paper published in the evening, for example, the Evening Standard in London.A daily newspaper from a medium-sized US city has between 50 and 75 pages, divided into different sections. The most important stories are printed on the front page, which usually has the beginnings of four or five articles, and colour photographs. The articles continue inside. The rest of the first section contains news stories, an opinion page with editorials, and letters to the editor, written by people who read the paper. Another section contains local news. The sport section is near the end of the paper, with the features section. This contains comics and also advice columns, such as Dear Abby. There are advertisements throughout the paper.Tabloids contain articles about famous people but do not report the news. They are displayed in supermarkets, and many people read them while they are waiting to pay.On Sundays newspapers are thicker. There are usually fewer news stories but more articles analysing the news of the past week and many more features, including a colour section of comics.Newspapers get material from several sources. Staff reporters write about national or local news. Major newspapers also have their own foreign correspondents throughout the world. Others get foreign news from press agencies or wire services, such as Associated Press or Reuters. Some papers have their own features writers. In the US features are usually syndicated, which means that one newspaper in each area can buy the right to print them. The editor decides what stories to include each day but the publisher or owner has control over general policy. Newspaper owners are very powerful and are sometimes called press barons. The most famous of these is Rupert Murdoch.

Other results

All matches