tabloid

[tab-loid] /ˈtæb lɔɪd/
noun
1.
a newspaper whose pages, usually five columns wide, are about one-half the size of a standard-sized newspaper page.
2.
a newspaper this size concentrating on sensational and lurid news, usually heavily illustrated.
3.
a short form or version; condensation; synopsis; summary.
adjective
4.
compressed or condensed in or as if in a tabloid:
a tabloid article; a tabloid account of the adventure.
5.
luridly or vulgarly sensational.
Origin
1905-10; tabl(et) + -oid
Related forms
tabloidism, noun
Examples from the web for tabloid
  • He has a degree in journalism and has been a writer and editor for several tabloid newspapers.
  • tabloid journalism generates hype to generate money.
  • Either way, let's go the scientific way instead of the tabloid way.
  • The tabloid tends to aggressively go after the royal family.
  • Twelve stories high, she seems pumped up to this size by the endless tabloid coverage of her personal life.
  • It's about the power and grudges of tabloid newspapers.
  • Literary critics bemoan her cardboard characters and tabloid style.
  • Three heavyweight dailies, a zingy tabloid and three serious colour newsweeklies are on sale at every news-stand.
  • Lawfully such an appointment cannot be reversed, tabloid claims about friendship notwithstanding.
  • And he knows that newspapers, however tabloid, depend in the end on ideas.
British Dictionary definitions for tabloid

tabloid

/ˈtæblɔɪd/
noun
1.
a newspaper with pages about 30 cm (12 inches) by 40 cm (16 inches), usually characterized by an emphasis on photographs and a concise and often sensational style Compare broadsheet
2.
(modifier) designed to appeal to a mass audience or readership; sensationalist: the tabloid press, tabloid television
Word Origin
C20: from earlier Tabloid, a trademark for a medicine in tablet form
Word Origin and History for tabloid
n.

1884, "small tablet of medicine," trademark name (by Burroughs, Wellcome and Co.) for compressed or concentrated chemicals and drugs, formed from tablet + Greek-derived suffix -oid. By 1898, it was being used figuratively to mean a compressed form or dose of anything, hence tabloid journalism (1901), and newspapers that typified it (1918), so called for having short, condensed news articles and/or for being small in size.