tabloid

Etymology

From a trademark for a medicine compressed into a tablet. See -oid and the Etymology section of the Wikipedia article "Tabloid".

noun

1. (publishing) A newspaper having pages half the dimensions of the standard format.
2. (publishing) A newspaper, especially one in this format, that favours stories of a sensational or even fictitious nature over serious news.
   "A public school in Moperville, where the local newspaper is sold in neighboring towns with all the regard of a tabloid. We've got a reputation to protect! We can only report on confirmed monsters, like mega hogs, or Bigfoot!" 20 January 2009, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Tuesday, Jan 20, 2009
3. (medicine, obsolete) A compressed portion of drugs, chemicals, etc.; a tablet.
   ‘It’s those tabloids!’ Conroy stamped his foot feebly as he blew his nose. ‘They’ve knocked me out. I used to be fit once.’ 1911, Rudyard Kipling, In the Same Boat
   "Next!" steps gingerly in to confront the medical eye fastened questioningly upon him. "Crook in the guts," he says tersely. The picturesque reports of previously treated and disgusted patients - have left him doubtful, and he casts, an anathematising eye upon the "Black Jack" bottle. "Tabloids and duty!" says the doctor, and the sufferer sighs with relief. 11 Oct 1914, The Sunday Times, Perth, Australia, page 1, column 9

adj

1. In the format of a tabloid.
2. Relating to a tabloid or tabloids.
   tabloid journalism
   I watched your 6 o'clock news today; it's straight tabloid. You had a minute and a half of that lady riding a bike naked in Central Park; on the other hand, you had less than a minute of hard national and international news. 1976, Paddy Chayefsky, Network, spoken by Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway)
   Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you. 2013-06-22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76