What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Articulate vs Formulate - What's the difference?

articulate | formulate |

As verbs the difference between articulate and formulate

is that articulate is to make clear or effective while formulate is to reduce to, or express in, a formula; to put in a clear and definite form of statement or expression.

As an adjective articulate

is clear, effective.

As a noun articulate

is an animal of the subkingdom Articulata.

articulate

English

(Articulation)

Etymology 1

.

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • clear, effective
  • especially, speaking in a clear or effective manner
  • able to bend or hinge at certain points or intervals
  • Expressed in articles or in separate items or particulars.
  • (Francis Bacon)
  • Related to human speech, as distinct from the vocalisation of animals.
  • * 1728 , James Knapton and John Knapton, Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences , page 146:
  • Brutes cannot form articulate'' Sounds, cannot ''articulate the Sounds of the Voice, excepting some few Birds, as the Parrot, Pye, &c.
    Synonyms
    * (good at speaking) eloquent, well-spoken

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (label) An animal of the subkingdom Articulata.
  • Etymology 2

    From the adjective.

    Verb

    (articulat)
  • To make clear or effective.
  • To speak clearly; to enunciate.
  • I wish he’d articulate his words more clearly.
  • To explain; to put into words; to make something specific.
  • I like this painting, but I can’t articulate why.
  • To bend or hinge something at intervals, or to allow or build something so that it can bend.
  • an articulated bus
  • (music) to attack a note, as by tonguing, slurring, bowing, etc.
  • Articulate that passage heavily.
  • (anatomy) to form a joint or connect by joints
  • The lower jaw articulates with the skull at the temporomandibular joint.
  • (obsolete) To treat or make terms.
  • (Shakespeare)
    Derived terms
    *

    formulate

    English

    (Webster 1913)

    Verb

  • To reduce to, or express in, a formula; to put in a clear and definite form of statement or expression.
  • *
  • Another source of evidence supporting the conclusion that children learn language by formulating a set of rules comes from the errors'' that they produce. A case in point are overgeneralized past tense forms like ''comed'', ''goed'', ''seed'', ''buyed'', ''bringed , etc. frequently used by young children. [...]