Definition of "articulate"

articulate¹

/ɑː(ɹ)ˈtɪk.jʊ.lət/

adjective
comparative more articulate, superlative most articulate
1. Clear; effective.
2. Speaking in a clear and effective manner.
3. Consisting of segments united by joints.
4. Distinctly marked off.
5. (obsolete) Expressed in articles or in separate items or particulars.
  Quotations
  articulate sounds
  1631, Francis [Bacon], “II. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […]
6. (obsolete, of sound) Related to human speech, as distinct from the vocalisation of animals.
  Quotations
  Brutes cannot form articulate Sounds, cannot articulate the Sounds of the Voice, excepting some few Birds, as the Parrot, Pye, &c.
  1728, James Knapton, John Knapton, Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, page 146
noun
plural articulates
1. (zoology) An animal of the subkingdom Articulata.
  Quotations
  They considered articulates to be pre-adapted for an eleutherozoic existence because they possess muscular arms which are potentially of value in crawling and swimming, as in comatulids.
  1977, Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History)

articulate²

/ɑː(ɹ)ˈtɪk.jʊ.leɪt/

verb
third-person singular simple present articulates, present participle articulating, simple past and past participle articulated
1. (transitive) To make clear or effective.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To speak clearly; to enunciate.
3. (transitive) To explain; to put into words; to make something specific.
4. (transitive) To bend or hinge something at intervals, or to allow or build something so that it can bend.
5. (music, transitive) to attack a note, as by tonguing, slurring, bowing, etc.
6. (anatomy, intransitive) to form a joint or connect by joints
7. (obsolete) To treat or make terms.
  Quotations
  Send us to Rome / The best, with whom we may articulate / For their own good and ours.
  c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, act 1, scene 9, lines 75–77