paragraph

[ par-uh-graf, -grahf ]

noun

1. a distinct portion of written or printed matter dealing with a particular idea, usually beginning with an indentation on a new line.
2. a paragraph mark.
3. a note, item, or brief article, as in a newspaper.

verb (used with object)

1. to divide into paragraphs.
2. to write or publish paragraphs about, as in a newspaper.
3. to express in a paragraph.

paragraph

/ -ˌɡræf; ˌpærəˈɡræfɪk; ˈpærəˌɡrɑːf /

noun

1. (in a piece of writing) one of a series of subsections each usually devoted to one idea and each usually marked by the beginning of a new line, indentation, increased interlinear space, etc
2. printing the character ¶, used as a reference mark or to indicate the beginning of a new paragraph
3. a short article in a newspaper

verb

1. to form into paragraphs
2. to express or report in a paragraph

paragraph

1. A basic unit of prose. It is usually composed of several sentences that together develop one central idea. The main sentence in a paragraph is called the topic sentence .

Derived Forms

• ˌparaˈgraphically, adverb
• paragraphic, adjective

Other Words From

• para·graph·ism noun
• par·a·gra·phis·ti·cal [par-, uh, -gr, uh, -, fis, -ti-k, uh, l], adjective
• sub·para·graph noun
• un·para·graphed adjective
• well-para·graphed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of paragraph¹

1515–25; earlier paragraphe < Greek paragraphḗ marked passage; para- ¹, graph

Word History and Origins

Origin of paragraph¹

C16: from Medieval Latin paragraphus, from Greek paragraphos line drawing attention to part of a text, from paragraphein to write beside, from para- ¹+ graphein to write

Example Sentences

Obviously we’re still figuring this out, but I wanted to note it here given the above paragraph.

From TechCrunch

Back in July, OpenAI’s latest language model, GPT-3, dazzled with its ability to churn out paragraphs that look as if they could have been written by a human.

From MIT Technology Review

Digging through the previous paragraph, we just saw that after 48 hours there was a 25 percent chance of having two worms, a 50 percent chance of having three worms and a 25 percent chance of having four worms.

From FiveThirtyEight

You can convey something in an instant that would take a paragraph.

From Science News

Use paragraphs, headings, and signal words to display your content nicely on your webpage, allowing for greater user experience.

From Search Engine Watch

Think about that for a second if after the preceding paragraph you remain convinced of the infallibility of our system.

From The Daily Beast

It goes on like that for another half a paragraph, but you get the idea.

From The Daily Beast

For a writer who was a master of reduction, never one to linger on the passing view, this was an unusually effulgent paragraph.

From The Daily Beast

If the story fell apart by the first paragraph, it would not save itself by the end.

From The Daily Beast

Whitman is made to share a chapter, lumped in with Proust, Wilde, and Baudelaire, in which he is allotted a mere paragraph.

From The Daily Beast

So they often occured mid-paragraph; here they have been moved to a more appropriate place.

From Project Gutenberg

I mark this by inserting a paragraph-mark ( ) at the beginning of each tern.

From Project Gutenberg

If we get to the bottom of it, we shall find that the countess inspired the paragraph that the Evening Mercury had to-night.

From Project Gutenberg

I would not have believed it; it came to me quite as a shock—that paragraph in the late Mercury.

From Project Gutenberg

In the original draft of the instructions was a curious paragraph which, on second thoughts, it was determined to omit.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• clause
• portion
• quotation
• reading
• section
• sentence
• text
• transition
• verse