articulated

6.2

Having parts with joints that let them move

adjective
/ɑrˈtɪkjʊleɪtɪd/

Specialized

: articulado

The articulated joints of the toy allow it to bend and adjust its shape easily.

Hey, someone's shaking their a skeleton over there is shaking its pelvis, but there's no articulated movement.

Examples

The engineer designed an articulated robot arm that can move in multiple directions.
First of all, those articulated arms, we know it's mechanical.
So some of these parts are flexible and some of them are rigid pieces which are articulated so I can also print.
In the museum, the exhibit featured an articulated model of a dinosaur skeleton.

Synonyms

articulate

vsarticulated

Specialized

2 7.7

Having a body made of connected parts that can move

is the same but joints allow movement between segments

jointed

vsarticulated

1 4.2

Made of parts that can move and bend where they meet

focuses on joints that permit movement between segments

Antonyms

unarticulated

Specialized

7.9

A body part that has no joints or separate parts

Compounds

articulated ladder

Specialized

6.2

A tool with hinged sections that fold and lock to reach different heights

articulated lorry

5.4

A large truck with a front cab and a long trailer joined by a moving joint to carry goods

How Articulated

double-jointed

3 5.5

articulated

Specialized

6.2

segmented

5.5

fixed

1.0

Surface Forms

articulated positive

Morphology

articulated = articulate (semi-transparent) = articulate + ed

The word is formed regularly from 'articulate' + '-ed', but the technical sense 'having joints' may not be obvious to learners who know only the 'speak clearly' meaning of 'articulate'.

Etymology

Articulated comes from the Latin root articul-, which means 'joint' or 'small part'. Think of a joint where two parts meet — like the word article, which originally meant a 'small part' — so an articulated object has real joints between its pieces that let them move.