/ ˈtæblɔɪd; NAmE / noun
1.
a newspaper with small pages (usually half the size of those in larger papers)
2.
(sometimes disapproving ) a newspaper of this size with short articles and a lot of pictures and stories about famous people, often thought of as less serious than other newspapers :
The story made the front page in all the tabloids.
—compare broadsheet , quality newspaper
► tab·loid adjective [ only before noun ]:
a serious paper in a new tabloid format
tabloid journalists
a tabloid newspaper
the tabloid press
For more information see the Cultural Guide
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WORD ORIGIN
late 19th cent.: from tablet + -oid . Originally the proprietary name of a medicine sold in tablets, the term came to denote any small medicinal tablet; the current sense reflects the notion of “concentrated, easily absorbed”.