paragraphs
- 1Plural of paragraph.
The report's final paragraphs summarized the committee's recommendations.
He trimmed two long paragraphs from the introduction to tighten the argument.
Note
A plain -s plural that carries more than passages of prose. Newspapers count their brief notices and announcements as paragraphs. The word also names marks set in the margin to flag a change of subject. In Intel memory architectures, paragraphs are 16-byte offsets. The same spelling is also the verb form (she paragraphs her notes), and only the sentence around it tells the two apart.
- 2Third-person singular simple present indicative of paragraph.
The software automatically paragraphs imported text according to line breaks.
She paragraphs her notes carefully so each idea stands on its own.
Note
Two transitive verbs stand behind this form. One means sorting text into paragraphs, and the other means publishing a brief notice in a newspaper. Both want an object: the software paragraphs the text, the paper paragraphs the announcement. A bare "she paragraphs" sounds unfinished. With other subjects and after modals the base form returns: they paragraph, it will paragraph.
Showing meanings only.
paragraphs is a form of paragraph
paragraph, noun: A passage of text that begins on a new line, sometimes with the first line indented, usually marking a change of topic. Full entry
- Forms
- paragraphparagraphs plural
- Spelling
- paragraph → paragraphs: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /s/.
Use it in a sentence
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