paragraph

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French paragraphe from Latin paragraphus (“sign for start of a new section of discourse”), from Ancient Greek παράγραφος (parágraphos), from παρά (pará, “beside”) and γράφω (gráphō, “I write”).

noun

1. A passage in text that starts on a new line, the first line sometimes being indented, and usually marks a change of topic.
   opening paragraph
   final paragraph
   paragraph heading
   Divide the writing into paragraphs.
2. (originally) A mark or note set in the margin to call attention to something in the text, such as a change of subject.
3. A brief article, notice, or announcement, as in a newspaper.
4. (computing) An offset of 16 bytes in Intel memory architectures.

verb

1. To sort text into paragraphs.
2. To publish a brief article, notice, or announcement, as in a newspaper.