articulated

Pluralarticulateds

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of articulate.

   The committee articulated a clear set of goals for the year.

   Their fears were finally articulated at the town meeting.

   Note

   One -ed form does double duty here. It is the simple past (she articulated her doubts) and also the past participle that follows have or builds the passive (the doubts were articulated). It carries every meaning of the verb, from putting ideas into words to hinging a structure at joints, and that second strand is where the "jointed" adjective comes from.

2. 2
   adjective

   Built with one or more pivoted joints that allow an otherwise rigid structure to bend.

   The robot's articulated limbs let it reach into tight spaces.

   Engineers designed an articulated boom that folds neatly for transport.

   Similarjointed, hinged, pivoted

   Oppositerigid, fixed

   Note

   This is an either-or word. A structure has pivoted joints or it does not, so the adjective takes no comparative: an arm is articulated, never more articulated. It names how a thing is designed rather than how it is moving at the moment, and it is the general idea that the vehicle sense narrows to buses, trucks and trains.

3. 3
   adjective

   Of a vehicle: made of connected sections, each with its own wheels and frame, joined so the vehicle can bend at the link.

   The city added articulated buses to handle crowds on its busiest routes.

   Drivers need extra training to handle an articulated truck on tight streets.

   Oppositerigid

   Note

   Here the joint sits between whole vehicles rather than between parts of a machine, as in articulated lorry, articulated bus and articulated streetcar. Railways use it too. Rail (2019) describes Merseyrail's new trains as "a fixed formation of four articulated vehicles," meaning sections built to run permanently joined. Used on its own as a noun, the word becomes the name for such a vehicle.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A vehicle built from joined sections that bend at the link, such as a locomotive of that type.

   The preserved articulated still draws crowds whenever it runs on the heritage line.

   Two articulateds worked in tandem to move the loaded freight cars.

   Similarartic

   Note

   The adjective has turned into a noun, and it takes an ordinary plural. J. Geoffrey Todd, writing in 1961 about railroading in the United States, recalls "the Class Y6 2-8-8-2 compound articulateds" slogging up a grade, their stack noise unforgettable. Artic is a clipped synonym for the same vehicle.

5. 5
   adjective

   Of a noun or phrase: marked or limited by an article such as the, a, or an.

   The grammar text contrasts articulated nouns with those left bare.

   An articulated subject like 'the teacher' names a definite person.

   Oppositebare

   Note

   A grammarian's term built on article, not on joints. An articulated noun is one introduced by the, a or an, set against a bare noun that has none. The test is purely formal: what matters is whether an article is present. So the teacher counts as articulated, while teachers, used to speak of teachers in general, does not.

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