article

articlenoun

An article can be a piece of writing, a particular thing of a kind, a part of a formal paper marked with a number, or, in grammar, one of the words a, an, and the.

1. piece of writinga piece of writing about one subject, put in a newspaper or on a website

   countable [C] media

   • She wrote an article about local schools for the newspaper.
   • The magazine published a long article on climate.
   • I read an interesting article online this morning.
   • The article was written by a well-known journalist.

   Collocations

   adjective + noun a newspaper article, a magazine article, a recent article, a long article, a short article

   verb + noun write an article, publish an article, read an article

   noun + preposition article about, article on

2. thing of a kinda particular thing, especially one of a group of things of a similar kind

   countable [C] formal

   • She checked her bag to make sure she had every article of clothing she needed.
   • The lost-and-found office has a box of unclaimed articles.
   • The store sells articles for the home and garden.

   Collocations

   noun + preposition an article of clothing, articles of value

   adjective + noun household articles

   Synonyms item

3. part of a documenta part, marked with a number, of a formal paper such as a law, contract, or agreement

   countable [C] formallawgovernment

   • Article 2 of the treaty deals with trade.
   • The company's contract has ten articles.
   • Article 1 guarantees the right to a fair trial.

   Collocations

   noun + preposition article of the treaty, article of the constitution

   adjective + noun the first article, the final article

4. a, an, theone of the words a, an, or the, placed before a noun

   The indefinite article (a, an) refers to one of a general kind; the definite article (the) refers to a particular one already known to the reader or listener. Many noun phrases take no article at all, for example when another determiner such as my or this is used instead.

   countable [C] grammar

   • This grammar book has a whole chapter on the article.
   • Learners often forget to add the correct article before a noun.

   Collocations

   adjective + noun the definite article, the indefinite article

   For translators (sense 4)

   Meaning across languages Many languages have no articles, or use them differently from English; a learner from such a language has to build a feel, case by case, for when English needs a, an, or the, and when it needs no article at all.

See also a; an; the