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Glite Dictionary
🗣️ To express clearly 🗣️ Expressing well 👄 To pronounce clearly 🦴 To join by joints 🐜 Having jointed parts
to articulate

to articulate

7 7.5
To join two parts so they can move at their connection
  • verb
  • /ɑrˈtɪk.jə.leɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : articular
  • This is the jackscrew on the tail assembly that articulates the horizontal stabilizer, also known as the elevator.
  • articulated bones
  • fully articulated
  • articulated arms

Examples

  • This is an articulated arm we developed as an extension of the pulse array.

    The Lazarus Effect (2015)

  • The the way the knees articulate and the fact that everything will move in.

  • Like the toes are articulated so much.

  • So, so why can't finger robot fingers articulate or grab?

  • We have hips, fingers, wrists, and wonderful arms with articulated hands and fingers.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Every bone in his rib cage was visible, clearly articulated against its taut sheath of skin.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The flippers have become articulated into five digits, one of which looks distinctly opposable.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Unless they have eroded away, hands are not articulated, and attenuated arms clutch the sides of the torso.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Will the tire-cord reinforced rubber shell adequately retain the articulated ankle-foot bones in their respective appositions?

    Academic text (1990)

  • The bones in a human hand articulate at the joints, allowing for flexible movement.

Synonyms

to connect
vsto articulate
278 1.1

Join two things so they form one piece

uses a specific hinge or movable junction rather than general linking
to joint
vsto articulate
1 5.3

To fasten two parts together so they form one piece

attaches parts specifically by a movable or anatomical hinge

How Movable

to hinge
1 3.1
to articulate
  • Specialized
7 7.5
to attach
459 2.5
to fuse
44 3.9

Surface Forms

articulate infinitive
articulated past
articulated past participle
articulating present participle
articulates third person singular

Morphology

articulate = articul + ate

This literal sense 'to join by a joint' is closer to the original root meaning and may be partly guessable to learners familiar with 'articulation' or 'joint', but the stem itself is not a productive standalone English morpheme.

Etymology

Articulate comes from the Latin word articulus, which means 'small joint' or 'part'. The original idea is still here: to make a joint or connection, so to articulate parts is to join them by a joint.